Tithing Love
by The Laughing Libra
Summary: HM: MoFo, Claire x Carter. Claire, the new farmer in Mineral Town, is bold, aggressive, and full of fire... and she's rubbing some of the townsfolk the wrong way. But for Carter, she may just be the answer to his prayers.
1. Meeting Again for the First Time

Tithing Love

By The Laughing Libra

* * *

Summary: (HM: MoFo) Claire, the new farmer in Mineral Town, is bold, aggressive, and full of fire... and she's rubbing some of the townsfolk the wrong way. But for Carter, she may just be the answer to his prayers.

* * *

_A/N: I wrote this story because my favorite game of all time is "Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town." When "More Friends" first came out, I was beside myself with excitement, because the character I loved best was Carter, the town priest, and I was gung-ho to be "the minister's wife." Imagine my consternation when I found out your marriage options were mostly confined to the 5 rival bachelors. What about all the other single men in town?! I thought. Gotz, Zack, Carter—I can marry the freakin' Gourmet but not them?! What's up with that?! _

_So the long and short of it is, this story is an expression of my love for Carter. I hope you will enjoy it!_

_And, as another added note, the measurement of time in my story is the same as it is in real life, and not merely 30 days per season._

* * *

Tithing Love

Chapter I: Meeting Again for the First Time

* * *

Claire had moved into Mineral Town two seasons ago, but in all that time the only time Father Carter had seen her was the initial visit she made to the church on her introductory tour with Mayor Thomas. Such minimal contact with a member of the town wasn't uncommon to Carter; he barely saw most of the villagers: aside from a very few loyal parishioners, the church wasn't exactly the town's biggest hot spot. So for quite a while, the only impression Carter had of Claire was a pair of angry eyes, half hidden under a mop of long blonde hair, inexplicably glowering darkly at Mayor Thomas for her entire visit to the church.

Therefore, it was with a small amount of trepidation that Carter headed to Claire's farm to invite her to the annual Music Festival.

This trepidation only increased when, the moment Carter set foot on Claire's property, her dog, still half a puppy but large enough to do damage to the unwary, leapt with surprising speed out of his doghouse to skid to a halt in front of Carter, barking loudly and blocking Carter's path. Carter took a hasty step back.

After a few tense moments, a petite, sporty-looking blonde poked her head out of her front door to see what the commotion was all about. Seeing Carter, she grinned broadly. "Hey, Father!" she greeted him hastily before saying to the dog in a commanding voice, "Down, Pilot! Heel!" Immediately, the dog stopped barking and trotted over to Claire to sit at her side. She patted Pilot's head. "Good boy."

"That's an excellent guard dog," Carter said with relief, amazed at Pilot's instantaneous transformation from warden to family pet.

"Isn't he?!" Claire said, obviously pleased with the compliment. "I trained him myself." She rubbed the dog's ears and continued, "You wouldn't think it to look at him, but he was once this tiny runt of a thing I found half drowned in the gutter. My ferry to Mineral Town got delayed because of a huge storm and I literally tripped over him running around in the rain trying to find a youth hostel with vacancies. I picked him up out of the mud and decided to keep him." She scratched the dog's chest fondly. "I've got a soft spot for strays."

"That's very kind of you," said Carter, and meant it. He admired people who went out of their way to help others. Part of the reason he became a priest was because it was a means to better accomplish just that task.

Claire straightened up and looked at Carter. "So it's a bit early for social calling, but you have good timing anyway—I was just starting breakfast. Come on in and join me. You can tell me why you're here while we eat."

"Um, thank you. That's very generous," Carter said, pleasantly surprised at Claire's unexpected friendliness as well as the unexpected opportunity to eat breakfast. The church ran on the charitable donations of the town, but unfortunately, the small percentage of the town that regularly frequented the church was also the percentage with the least amount of spare cash. Breakfast—and lunch, for that matter—was a luxury that Carter usually did without.

Claire pointed him to a seat and presented Carter with a simple but bountiful meal of a fruit salad consisting of wild grapes, cubed pineapple, and slices of freshly picked apples; buttered toast; and tea. She took the seat across from him and was about to dig straight in before she thought the better of it and grinned again at Carter. "I almost forgot. Do the honor, Father?" she asked.

"Of course," he replied, and they folded their hands as Carter gave a quick thanks to the Harvest Goddess for the meal.

"Enjoy!" she said cheerfully to Carter, already spearing an apple slice with her fork and popping it into her mouth with relish. Silence reigned for a while as both of them ate heartily. As they began to slow down, Claire finally asked conversationally, "So what did you stop by for?"

"Ah…! Well, it's the annual music festival a week from Monday. The girls in town always perform together, and it just occurred to me that you might also…"

"Wanna join in?" she interrupted eagerly. "I'd love to! I've played the ocarina since I was five, and it's one of my favorite things to do."

"That's wonderful!" Carter replied. "I brought you some sheet music… Do you think you could learn it by then?"

"No problem!" she replied confidently. "It'll be fun to perform in public again! I haven't done it in ages."

Once Carter gave her all the details, they began to chat comfortably about various subjects. Claire asked him about the town and its festivals, and then about the church and its activities. It was obvious that Claire was new to his religion, and listened to the answers he provided to her questions with interest.

"So… you've really done a lot with this place in a short amount of time," Carter said, sipping his tea and glancing at the view out the window. The farm, he knew, had fallen into a desperate state of disrepair by the time Claire had moved in, and it was now amazingly clean and organized for the relatively short period of time she had been living there. Rows and rows of sweet potato plants were beginning to bud, and more rows in the field were also plowed and obviously seeded, though nothing had grown in yet.

"Yeah…" she replied, "I'm a natural workaholic. Planting stuff and watching it grow has been interesting, but I just got my first animals, and I gotta say, taking care of them is a lot more fun. You wanna see them?"

Carter glanced down at his plate. He'd cleaned it completely, and had been debating whether or not it would reflect poorly on him to ask for a second helping—he didn't want her to feel obligated to feed him like this every time he showed up. Deciding to err on the side of caution and not reveal how hungry he habitually was, he smiled and said, "I'd love to. Let me help you clear the table."

They went outside and she showed him her new sheep and cows, and then led him to the chicken coop. "And here's my pride and joy!" she said as a tiny chick cheeped and ran up to her. Claire picked up the tiny bundle of fluff and deposited her into Carter's hands. "Isn't she cute?! I named her Maya. She was the runt of the chicks at the poultry farm, and I decided to make it my mission to ensure she grows up big and strong!"

"She's great!" Carter said enthusiastically, carefully petting the tiny chick. "You must be very good friends with Popuri and Rick if you like chickens so much."

Claire frowned and folded her arms, not looking directly at Carter but obviously recalling a memory with annoyance. "Well, I am good friends with _one_ of them. The other one… well, we argue over Kai a lot."

"I see," Carter said, realizing from her face that he was treading onto a touchy subject. He knew that Kai was the boy that vacationed in Mineral Town every summer, and who was casually dating Popuri, one of the few faithful attendees of Sunday services. Popuri talked about Kai to Carter quite a lot, but Claire must have taken a liking to him as well. That was a shame, because it seemed to Carter that the girls might have gotten along very well otherwise.

Carter tactfully changed the subject. "Well, I can tell you're making a good home for little Maya. I feel the presence of the Harvest Goddess in this farm; I think it will be very successful." Claire beamed at him.

"That means a lot coming from you, Father," Claire said, unfolding her arms and smiling. "You seem like you know what you're talking about."

They left the chicken coop and Claire walked him to the border of the farm. "I'm glad you stopped by, Father."

"You can just call me 'Carter,'" he said.

"Okay then, Carter," she said with a cheerful nod, readily taking to the amendment, "I'll see you at the Music Festival promptly at 6:00."

She walked Carter to the edge of the farm, and they exchanged very affable goodbyes. As Carter started walking back to the church, he couldn't help but reflect with satisfaction on the town's good luck of gaining such a good-natured resident. Just before he reached the first corner, he turned and took one last look back at the farm. Claire was still where he left her, leaning against a fence post with Pilot at her side. When she saw that he was looking back, she stopped petting Pilot's head and waved brightly to him. Carter grinned and waved back before continuing on his way. Claire was undeniably a very nice person. He hoped he'd have the chance to speak with her at length again at the Music Festival.

* * *

As she had assured Carter she would be, Claire was indeed prompt to the festival. In fact, she was rather early.

"Hello…!" she called into the echoing halls of the church, her ocarina and sheet music in hand. Carter came over to greet her.

"Hello, yourself," he said, smiling. "I'm afraid it's only Cliff and me here at this point."

"That's fine, Carter," Claire said, grinning at him. "We already know we can hold a conversation without offending each other or boring each other to death. I'm sure we'll be fine."

Carter laughed. "This is true. Unfortunately, Cliff is very quiet and shy. You know, I think he could benefit from talking to someone as lively as you. Would you mind befriending him a bit?"

"No problem! I'll do my best," Claire said, following Carter to the front of the Church.

"Hi!" she said brightly to Cliff, sticking out her hand for him to shake and introducing herself. Carter was pleased to see that soon, with Claire's help, the two of them managed to engage Cliff in a rather involved conversation. Soon the topic turned to Cliff himself.

Claire sighed sympathetically and said, "No job, huh? Yeah, I can see the trouble—it's such a small town that all the jobs are already taken out of shear necessity to keep the town functioning. It must be difficult for you," said Claire.

"Yeah… but the problem is that I really do like this town… I don't want to leave if I can help it," Cliff mumbled softly.

"I wish I could help. The problem is that now I'm just starting up—in a few seasons I'll probably need a farmhand, but right now I just can't afford one. So that's not gonna work," mused Claire.

"Don't worry, Cliff," said Carter kindly. "If you're meant to stay here, the Harvest Goddess will surely provide."

"That's right!" agreed Claire. "I'll keep my eyes open for you, too, and I bet—" She was cut of by the sound of the door opening. The participants of the music festival were arriving.

"Ah, I wanted to coordinate with the girls before the festival. Excuse me, gentlemen," Claire said, getting up from where she was sitting beside Cliff on the pew and meeting the girls at the door.

"She seemed nice," Cliff said quietly to Carter. "Sort of like Ann—nice in a pushy sort of way."

"I don't know about that," Carter chuckled, "but she _is_ very nice. I think it'll turn out that we'll all be glad that she moved to our town."

Carter took a seat with Cliff as the Music Festival got started. After a brief warm-up, the girls played a few tunes that were long-time favorites with the town's residence, before trying a piece that was brand new. The new song turned out to prove very popular with the audience, and enthusiastic applause followed. Carter listened very carefully throughout the festival to discern Claire's performance from the rest of the music, and was impressed with her talent.

Of course, the real star of the evening was, as usual, Karen with her exquisite singing voice, and a blushing but pleased Karen was swarmed with adoring well-wishers the moment the girls took their last bow. Thanks to this, Claire was largely disengaged, and Carter took the opportunity to work his way through the crowd over to her and fulfill his wish of speaking to her alone again.

She looked delighted to see him. "This festival was fun! I can't wait to see what the next festival is like—the Harvest one!" she said as soon as he was in earshot.

He smiled. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. You played beautifully."

"Were you listening to me?" she laughed, pleased. "Well maybe now I should return the favor and listen to you. I'll come to a mass and hear one of your sermons, sometime."

"Well if you really _are _interested, I could tell you a short one right now, if you like," he said.

"Yeah?" she said, looking curious. "I'm all ears. Let's hear it."

"Really? Now let me see…" He paused in thought. "This is a story from before I became a priest. I had no money, and lived in a tiny apartment. From my window, I could see inside the next apartment. There lived a couple there, and over time I noticed that the husband never moved—he sat in the same place all day, sometimes talking to his wife, or shaking his head, but never getting up. Everyday the woman would go out to work, leaving the husband behind, and he would just sit there."

Claire snorted. "Sounds like my mom and my deadbeat dad."

Carter continued, "One day, I noticed that a fire had started in that apartment. I expected the man to flee, but he still sat there, unmoving! In a panic, I rushed over to the apartment to save him. When I opened the door, the place was full of smoke, but I fought my way inside."

Claire's eyes widened, and she leaned closer, listening intently.

"When I reached the man, he just gazed at me with a blank expression. I tried to move him, but he was mysteriously heavy. I was baffled until I looked down at the floor, and saw that his arms and legs were growing out of it like plant roots. Ahhhh!!"

Claire jumped at his scream and looked absolutely shocked. Carter couldn't help but laugh as he observed her face. "I'm joking! I was just checking to see if you were paying attention. That didn't really happen."

She looked at him silently for a moment. "You have a really _strange_ sense of humor," she said wonderingly, but she smiled as she said it. She pushed his shoulder playfully. "You know, if this is a typical example of your storytelling, maybe you need to have someone help you with your sermons."

"Are you volunteering for such a job?" asked Carter with a smile, only half-serious in his question.

She considered it a moment. "You know, I think I will. It'll be interesting." She raised an eyebrow archly. "As long as I don't have to sit through _that_ story again. That was horrible."

"Oh, I've got plenty of other stories," he said with a grin. "I think we'll find one you'll approve of for me to tell this Sunday. Shall we meet here at 1:00 on Saturday?"

"Sure! It's a date," she replied, sticking out her hand so they could shake on it. He took her hand, and felt a warm smile gracing his lips. It was wonderful to have a new friend in this tiny town.


	2. Rumormongering

Tithing Love

Chapter II: Rumor-mongering

* * *

Carter had a great time with Claire when she stopped by the church the Saturday after the Music Festival.

Despite all of Claire's fine words, Carter had anticipated that Claire would be intending the visit to be more of a social call than an actual speechmaking workshop—but as a pleasant surprise, not only_ was _she interested in hearing his sermons, but she also had pretty good advice to offer him on them.

"I used to be a salesgirl in a department store," she explained, "and if you couldn't capture a customer's attention immediately and then _hold it_, your commission when down the toilet along with your ability to make rent. It was a harsh learning curve." She grinned at him. "So anyone will real talent in this department always sparks my interest. You pick weird topics to speak about, Carter, but you're engaging to listen to. I'm impressed."

So to his pleasure his afternoon with Claire was satisfyingly fun _and_ productive. When the time came to shake her hand goodbye, he reflected to himself about how truly glad he was that she moved into Mineral Town.

However—his prediction at the Music Festival that "we'll _all_ be glad that Claire moved to our town" proved to be false in a record amount of time.

Several weeks after the festival, Carter had been waiting outside for May and Stu to show up—he spent a good part of every week babysitting the two young children in order to help out their families. Even though May lived further away, she usually turned up first. Carter surmised that the time she spent at the church was the only time she got to really play around energetically and be herself. Even though her aging grandfather loved her very much, he was in no condition to keep up with an active seven-year-old.

Carter was sitting on the front steps of the church, breathing in deeply and admiring the fresh smell in the air of the sunny Fall day. Picking up a bright yellow leaf that was vaguely reminiscent of Claire's blonde hair, he twirled the stem absently between his fingers when he heard something that made him stop short.

Everyday, the middle aged ladies of the town gathered in Rose Square, very near the church, to catch up with each other and shoot the breeze. Normally, Carter could only hear the faint murmur of their conversation and the louder peals of laughter, but today was rather still and someone was obviously very angry and speaking in an increasingly loud voice.

"'…and I hate how much this town hates outsiders,' she said to him. 'Kai and Carter and Cliff may be able to tolerate your little snippy put-downs in the hope of eventually being accepted, but I can't. If you think that, with a full-sized farm to run single-handed, I'm going to humor you by working in this orchard just because if you _had_ to hire one of us, you'd prefer watching the cute chick bounce around than help out the guy who is in _obvious need_ of a job, then you're definitely kidding yourself.' Of course, my Duke told her that that certainly was _not_ true, and she just replied, 'Good, than you can prove it by employing Cliff,' and walked off without another word."

"Ohh! What did Duke do?"

"Well, we had no choice in the matter, did we? We had all that work that had to get done, and even though we hadn't wanted to hire Cliff in the first place, if we didn't she'd probably spread rumors about what horrible people we were!"

"How terrible for you!"

"I know! Oh, and speaking of rumors, did you know that she was constantly hanging around that Kai all summer?—That's probably where she got these bad ideas about poor Duke from. You know how much animosity there is between Kai and Duke."

"Hmpf! I bet you're right. I thought Claire was nice, but if this is what she's actually like, she and Kai deserve each other. I always tell my Mary to…"

Carter frowned, not liking the idea that little May would have to overhear this conversation on her way to the Church and decided to walk forward and meet May at her house. Maybe his presence passing through the square would silence the ladies' tongues, but if not, he'd take May to the church by another route.

Fortunately, when he entered Rose Square, the ladies fell noticeably silent.

"Oh, Father…" one of them piped up finally. "How unusual of you to be walking about at this time."

"Indeed," Carter answered, "But today was so lovely, that I decided to walk to May's and get her myself."

Manna decided to seize the opportunity to gather a fresh, obviously _collaborative_, opinion. "Well, join us a minute, Father, we were just talking. What do you think of that new farmer, Claire?"

"I think she could hardly be called 'new' after living here for over half a year."

"Well, you know what I mean, Father. But really… what do you _think_ of her?"

Carter smiled tightly. "I think… that I'm late to pick up May. Excuse me."

As Carter exited the square, he heard Manna say quietly, "He's a weird one, too. He never says what he's thinking. It's annoying."

Carter couldn't help but roll his eyes. _It's called being 'impartial,' not that you'd be familiar with the concept, _he thought rather meanly. To be honest though, he was hardly impartial when it came to Claire—he liked her very much. She had further gained his respect by keeping her promise to befriend Cliff, and had been stopping by the church on a semi-regular basis to talk with him. Of course, she talked with Carter, too, usually out on the front steps when Carter walked her to the door. It was nice to have Claire's conversation all to himself for a few minutes—it was taxing to coax Cliff out of his shell, and all their concentration went into it.

As it turned out, the lady herself was chatting with Barley when Carter knocked on the door of the Dairy Farm.

"Hey, Carter, what a surprise!" Claire smiled broadly, and when she found out what his errand was, decided to accompany him and May back to the church. Carter thought it wise to go back to the church the long way.

After May was happily set up in the pews with a coloring book to occupy her until Stu came, Carter felt he could speak more freely with Claire. He turned to her and said, "So I heard about your little adventure at Duke's yesterday."

"Did you?" she said with a laugh. "Are you sure you want to be seen with me? I'm bad news!"

"Claire," he said warningly, "You shouldn't be making such waves with the people of the town. You need to learn to integrate yourself smoothly if you want to be successful here."

"Pfft!" she said, blowing the bangs out of her eyes. "Listen, you'd have to be blind not to see that the people who weren't born here are the people who have it the roughest. You know Duke had the gall to ask me to help him out in a tone that clearly conveyed that he was 'doing me a favor'? As if my farm wasn't ten times more successful and busy than his. I tried to bring up Cliff and he told me that I could bring a friend 'if I _really_ wanted.' He completely dismissed me!"

"I know he sounded condescending to you, but if you think about it, he was probably trying to be kind, offering you a job. He may have been trying to be friendly—just in an awkward way."

"Friendly to me, but not to Cliff—I don't need friends who act like that. Even if I can only be friends with other 'outsiders,' I'll still be happy. Even if I were only friends with just you, Carter."

The gentle way she looked at him made the heat rise in his face. Still…

"And friends with Kai," Carter added despite himself.

"And Kai," she agreed, smiling. "I'm his biggest fan, you know! Do you know him well yourself?"

"No, I've seen him several times, but I've never actually met him," said Carter, "But I've heard about him from a couple of different sources."

"Popuri being the primary one, I'll bet," Claire said with a rueful laugh. "She never shuts up about him."

Carter frowned, and followed this statement with a slight non sequitur. "Ah… Some people seemed to be of the opinion that Kai has been encouraging you dislike Duke," he proclaimed rather hesitantly.

Claire snorted in a rather unladylike manner. "Please! Kai doesn't talk badly about anyone if he can absolutely help it. No, whoever I dislike I dislike of my own accord. But I bet Manna was the one who said something that stupid, right?"

Carter saw no reason to lie. "She did."

"Yeah, she said as much to my face yesterday. As if I come off as 'easily led,' right?" Claire laughed.

Carter smiled. "You certainly have a strong personality."

"Hmm. Well, it's unfortunate that I won't get to introduce you to Kai until he comes back next summer so you could judge him for yourself. I think you two would get along well."

"Certainly," Carter said, although he didn't quite agree. Though Kai must have some good points if both Popuri and Claire liked him so well, Carter didn't like the fact that that he seemed to dating the two girls at once. Carter let the conversation lapse into silence. Claire changed the subject after a moment or two.

"So, do you baby-sit May and Stu often?"

"Every Tuesday and Thursday. You know, if you want to meet some nice natives of the town, you should stop by the clinic and talk with Stu's big sister, Elli, and the doctor, Tim. Tim in particular is a very good friend of mine."

"Is that so?" Claire asked, her interest piqued.

"Yes… whenever the weather is bad on Wednesday, the Doctor brings me a bottle of wine and we talk." Carter laughed. "So... I actually hope it rains on Wednesdays now. We don't talk about anything in particular, but I still enjoy it immensely."

Claire looked impressed. "Well, I'll be sure to befriend him myself. Anyone who treats you well certainly deserves my respect."

* * *

Despite the initial bumps in the road, Cliff soon adjusted to life as an employed man, and he did such good work at the Winery that Duke soon forgot that he was against hiring him in the first place, and seemed to be of the opinion that it was always his intention to do so. To Carter's relief, Claire was wise enough not to point out this slight discrepancy with reality.

Carter commented to Claire one day at the church, "Cliff is doing so much better since getting the job at the Winery. It's all thanks to you. You were the one who saved Cliff. Lately, I've been thinking that the power of humans to save other humans is truly immense."

She smiled. "That's a nice thought." She paused for a few minutes before beginning again. "You know, I used to think to myself all the time about how the reverse is true. I, uh, didn't have the best parents in the world… they were both pretty bad, but my mom in particular used to smack me around sometimes and I couldn't stand it. So I ran away as soon as I thought I looked old enough to pass for eighteen. I got myself a crummy little apartment and a series of crummy little jobs but it was better than being at home, you know?"

Claire looked at Carter, who nodded silently. She continued, "And I used to hate my parents and hate how cruel people could be, but I've been thinking… if none of that stuff happened, if my family were happy, and I stayed at home in the city, and got a high school diploma like everyone else… I never would have ended up here. So in the long run, I'm actually kind of grateful that they were so crappy to me, because I really like my life now." She laughed nervously. "Does that sound weird?"

Carter was very serious. "Not at all."

She smiled in relief. "I thought you'd understand." She paused again. "I actually feel very proud that you think I did something as noble as saving Cliff. I'm always afraid that I'll end up like my parents, so I go out of my way to be nurturing to people that deserve it. I think that's why I like being a farmer so much. Cultivating things, watching them grow… it's really the best feeling in the world. When I do it, I feel like I'm not related to my parents at all."

"I'm glad that's true, Claire, but remember your path in life is not predestined. There's nothing that says you have to be like your parents."

She smiled and stuck out her tongue. "Thank goodness," she added blithely. "But even if there was, I got positive people like you and Kai around me to keep me on the straight and narrow." She smiled at Carter warmly. "I'm glad you're here."

Carter looks away, pleased but embarrassed. "I'm glad you're here, too," he said. They soon turned the subject to lighter topics, but Carter couldn't help but feel like he and Claire grew a little closer thanks to that short conversation.

Soon, Claire started showing up to the Church on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help Carter baby-sit May and Stu "for the fun of it," as she put it. Despite her tomboy ways, Stu found Claire a little too girly for his tastes, but May took quite readily to Claire, and began to follow her around town like a little shadow.

"She really misses having a mother figure in her life," Claire said to Carter at the church a few days after May's winter-time birthday. May's birthday wish had been to spend the day on Claire's farm, "because she wanted to be a farmer when she grew up." However, Claire confessed to Carter that after she and May fed the animals and did a few other small tasks, they spent most of the day contentedly baking cookies and playing cat's cradle without the subject of farming ever coming up again. "I'm glad I can be a role model," Claire said, sounding very proud of herself. "When May tags along on my chores, I feel just like Maya when her baby chicks follow her in a line—did I tell you she just had her fourth?"

Later that winter, on one of his weekly visits to the church, Doctor Tim commented to Carter that Claire had started stopping by the Clinic and had been going out of her way to strike up a friendship with the residents there.

"I'm glad," Carter told Nurse Elli when he himself had dropped by the clinic to return the visit. "I told her that the two of you could be very good friends."

"Oh, she's quite wonderful to chat with," said Elli, trying to hide a smile behind her hand, "But she really seems to be more interested in talking to _Tim_ most of the time."

Carter was confused to as to why Elli found that fact amusing. Seeing his face, Elli added, "I think it's nice that you and Tim are such good friends. He's certainly an authority on you."

"I suppose he would be," Carter said, not sure where Elli was leading to. "Has Claire been asking about me?"

"_Quite_ a lot." Elli smiled, encouragingly.

Carter finally realized what Elli was implying. "Oh…" he said, slightly embarrassed. It was on the tip of his tongue to correct her and explain about Claire and Kai, but found himself unequal to the topic. Instead, he hastily changed the subject.

* * *

It was strange, but for some reason, Carter found himself reluctant to bring up the topic of Claire at the clinic again even though he got frequent reports from its occupants that she was often stopping by "for a chat."

He wasn't quite sure why he felt like keeping mum about her, especially since he and Claire started seeing even more and more of each other—Claire had discovered Carter reading aloud to the children one day, and was delighted with his sly readings from Grimm's Fairy Tales. Carter had always been a natural thespian, and was pleased to show his talent off to Claire.

As the winter waxed on, it was not uncommon for Elli, when she came to pick the children up, to find Claire still at the church, May sleepily snuggling against her chest, and Stu wrapped under one of Carter's arm, drowsing, while Carter read to Claire in a low but expressive voice from one of the books the children found "boring" in their more alert hours, such as Carter's old copy of Shakespeare's sonnets. Still, though Elli made it _extremely_ obvious that she was very willing to listen to Carter talk about Claire, Carter would always brush the topic off when she—or even Tim, his closest friend—brought Claire up.

Winter soon came and went, and spring was in full bloom. As it grew closer and closer to summer, Carter was becoming increasingly moody whenever Claire would talk about how much she was looking forward to both its arrival and Kai's—which was often. She peppered him with invitations to all the summer events she was planning to attend—with Kai in tow, of course—and Carter turned each down as tactfully as he could.

"Kai represents everything I love about summer," said Claire with a nostalgic sigh. "Summer's my favorite season. Swimming, fishing, eating barbeque, lounging on the beach… spending a day with Kai guarantees fun summertime activities. I spent almost all my spare time last summer on the beach with him last year."

"So you've said before," replied Carter simply.

She smiled. "I know what will be fun! You wanna come with me to greet Kai on the dock when it's the 1st?" she asked. "We'll go early and I'll pack us a picnic for while we're waiting."

"That's okay."

She frowned, putting her hands on her hips. "Come on, you've gotta get out of the church sometime. Spending so much time indoors isn't healthy."

"Tans are better, I suppose," he said, quietly.

She looked slightly puzzled by the comment but shrugged in agreement. "Of course they are! That's why I plan to get me one as soon as possible—I'm gonna spend all my time outdoors, even if it rains; I'll look like He-Man if I get my way."

He laughed slightly. "I'd like to see that."

She smiled archly, as if she finally had him cornered. "Good. Then promise you'll hang out with Kai and me."

"I'm sorry, Claire, I'd really rather not."

She looked fed up. "You know, Carter, I don't know why you're so against meeting someone who's really important to me, but I've already asked you more times than I would normally be willing to. I'm not the type of girl who's comfortable begging. I'm not asking again. So that's it. You know where I'll be and who I'll be with this summer. You can join us if you see fit," she said, glaring at him, turning on her heel, and storming out.

Carter watched her go with regret, but restrained himself from calling her back. Spending summer with her went hand-in-hand with approving of her relationship with Kai, and until Kai chose between Claire and Popuri, Carter didn't really want to know him. Even if Kai made what Carter thought was the obvious choice and picked Claire, Carter still wasn't thrilled with the idea of being introduced to him. The most positive stories of Kai rubbed Carter the wrong way, and even for Claire's sake, Carter—for some reason—couldn't bring himself to like Kai at all.


	3. Don't Assume

Tithing Love

Chapter III: Don't Assume

* * *

Carter had not seen Claire since the end of spring. It was now very far into summer and Claire had kept her word—she didn't once stop by the church, leaving Carter to seek her out himself. Carter kept as physically far away from the beach as he could, but it didn't stop his mind from being there constantly.

_Claire and Kai were probably swimming right now. The weather was perfect for it_, he thought. She was probably splashing Kai playfully with the waves, dressed in a bikini, her blonde hair bleached even lighter in the sun, and blowing him a kiss with a little wink—

No. He shook his head. This train of thought would get him nowhere. Besides which, he was romanticizing her—much more likely she had spent the day brawling with Popuri over Kai, and was right now sitting on Popuri like a wrestler, pinning her to the ground and pushing her face in the sand.

Carter laughed despite himself. This train of thought was no good, either.

Carter sighed, defeated. He felt especially bored today… "lonely" was probably a more apt description. He decided to wander over to the Clinic to go look for the Doctor. If Tim turned out to be busy, he'd chat with Elli.

When he entered, the waiting room was empty and the front desk deserted. However, almost immediately, Elli came down the stairs, a book in hand.

"Oh, hello—" she started to say, but was interrupted by a call from the Doctor in the examination room.

"Elli, are you finally back down here?! Could you come here, please? I really need your help."

"Sorry!" said Elli apologetically, half to Carter, half to the Doctor. She disappeared into the other room. Carter heard her let out a small gasp of surprise. "What on earth happened to you?!" Carter heard Elli exclaim in alarm.

Carter's felt a nervous shock shoot through his heart when Claire's voice answered. "Well, as I was saying to the Doctor, I punched Rick in the nose. It wouldn't have been that bad, but I broke his glasses and I've got shards embedded in my hand now. Did you know he wears real glass glasses? It would figure. It's been a rotten summer all around, and this is the icing on the cake," she said sourly.

"So why _did_ you punch Rick?" he heard the Doctor ask.

"Because he had been provoking me all summer and I was finally sick of it. For some reason, he refuses to see that Popuri and Kai are absolutely perfect for each other. Everyone _knows_ they are except _him_. So I went as moral support when they announced their engagement to Lillia and Rick a half hour ago—"

"Popuri got engaged?!" squealed Elli.

"Dear, let her finish, and find me some tweezers so I can start working on her hand," said the Doctor, impatiently.

There was the sound of metal instruments being rustled in a drawer. "Sorry. Here you go."

"Good. Hold her steady."

"Anyway," continued Claire after a moment, "Rick had the audacity to say that he had never been more ashamed of his little sister than he was at that moment. So I clocked him."

"So why isn't Rick here, too? Doesn't he need help?" Elli asked.

"Karen didn't think it was prudent for the two of us to walk together to the clinic. Since I'm the one with glass stuck in me, I was the lucky one who got to come. He's being mopped up back at the poultry farm."

The Doctor sighed. "I understand you wanted to defend your friend, but don't you think it was a little unfair to take out your unrelated personal problems on poor Rick?"

Claire sounded sulky. "I don't know what you mean."

There was a long pause, where all that could be heard was the small _plick!_ of glass pieces being dropped into a Petri dish.

"Popuri and Kai want to get married at dusk, right before the Fireworks Festival," Claire blurted out suddenly. "I'm glad, because it'll mean I'll definitely have something to do that evening."

There was another slight pause, one long enough for Tim and Elli to exchange glances.

"You know, I've been wondering… when was the last time you visited Carter?" came Elli's gentle voice.

"It would be better to ask when was the last time he visited _me."_

"You know," Elli said hesitatingly, "It might not be my place to say—"

"It probably isn't," the Doctor said warningly.

"Well,_ maybe not_, but I think it's worse not to say anything in this case."

"You know how I feel about gossiping about friends," the Doctor said, sounding seriously displeased.

"Well, I'm not saying anything I wouldn't say if _Carter were actually here," _she snapped. "Claire, I think Carter might be a little resentful of Kai."

Claire sounded dumbfounded. "But _why?_ All I've ever wanted is for Kai to meet Carter and see how great he is."

"Maybe that's because Carter thinks you want _him_ to meet _Kai_."

"Elli… that's the _same thing."_

"If you think about it, it's not."

"Hmm?"

Carter felt understanding wash over him—he had clearly misunderstood her. She was never dating Kai. That meant—

Unfortunately, Carter was so wrapped up in eavesdropping that he forgot how precarious his hiding position of "in plain sight in the waiting room" was. Suddenly, the declaration of "Hold on, I think we have extra in the cupboard outside," was followed by the unexpected exit of the Doctor from the examination room.

Tim and Carter found themselves face to face, and both immediately turned beet red from shock and embarrassment. Carter found the only actions his surprised brain was willing to urge his body to perform were to step back, reach blindly for the doorknob behind him, and exit. Tim fortunately had the presence of mind to graciously clear his throat to cover up the sound of the door gently closing behind Carter.

* * *

Carter had never been happier to perform a wedding in his life.

Half the town was gathered on the beach as Carter proclaimed Kai and Popuri husband and wife and gave them permission to kiss. Considering Kai's "popularity" in the town, Carter suspected the crowd wouldn't have been nearly as large if people weren't already gathering for the Fireworks Festival.

Rick, Carter noticed, had a very large band aid on his nose that didn't quite cover his skin's bruised discoloration. Carter was relieved that though Rick looked highly annoyed, he didn't do anything to disrupt the wedding ceremony. It may have been because the two blonde bridesmaids, one in a slinky high cut skirt and the other in a simple cotton sundress with a large bandage wrapped around her hand, looked ready to tackle him when Carter asked the crowd if there were any objections.

After the ceremony, Kai opened up a fine-looking bottle of wine and started pouring for all who were there. After crowding around the newlyweds and offering congratulations, couples one by one started to drift off to secure good places on the beach to watch the fireworks.

Carter looked for Claire. She was sitting by herself on the end of the dock dangling her bare feet into the water, her wine glass in her off hand as her right was too swaddled in cloth to grip it properly. Taking a deep breath, Carter went over to her.

"Hey, stranger. I see you finally met Kai," said Claire stiffly, not looking at him as he took a seat next to her.

"Well, yes. It was rather unavoidable," Carter said with a weak chuckle. "He's very nice. I'm sorry I was so reluctant to do it earlier."

"Well," said Claire, finally looking at him. "I'm glad you can admit when you're wrong."

Carter chuckled again, this time with some enthusiasm. "Well, before you heap all the blame on me, I might point out that you were a bit in wrong yourself."

She looked surprised. "What did I do?!"

"You never explained to me that you weren't romantically interested in Kai. I thought that… um, that he was trying to play you and Popuri for fools. That's why I didn't want to meet him."

Her eyes went wide. "But how could you think that?! I told you that I was good friends with Popuri! Do think we wouldn't have compared notes?"

"No, you never told me you were friends with Popuri—in fact, I got the impression that you didn't like her very much. When you told me that you were friends with one of the siblings at the Poultry farm, and that you 'argued with the other over Kai a lot,' I thought you meant you were friends with Rick."

She stuck out her tongue. "With Rick?! Please! Even without Kai, we rub each other the wrong way." She paused. "But Kai's my best friend, and that's all. I thought you knew that."

"Well, I know that _now."_

She regarded him with a piercing look. "So, actually… was that the_ only_ reason you didn't want to meet Kai?"

He felt distinctly uncomfortable and his heart began to beat faster. "Of course. What, um, else could there be?"

She squinted, closely examining his face, which was ever so slightly flushed with embarrassment. After a moment, she smiled. She swished her feet playfully back and forth in the water, looking rather satisfied. "Well, I had a pretty terrible summer without you, I'll have you know. This ceremony has probably put a pretty penny in your pocket—you should buy me a gift to make up for ignoring me all summer."

Carter smiled. "I'd love to, but I didn't receive more than Popuri's usual weekly donation to the church; it was all she could afford. I don't get a salary, you know, so I need to live off of money like that."

She looked utterly shocked. "This town doesn't pay you a salary…?!" She glowered darkly. "You know, just when I think things around here couldn't annoy me more…"

"Claire, please be reasonable."

"You be reasonable! You can barely afford to feed yourself as it is. I always thought that you took a vow of poverty, or I else would've… Honestly, what are you going to do when Popuri moves away?!"

While Carter never felt unhappy before with his lack of material wealth, at the moment he felt extremely self-conscious. Hastily, Carter added, "You don't need to look so upset. I get plenty of support from my other parishioners."

"Oh, really. From who, exactly? Perpetually-in-debt Jeff or Cliff, the minimum-wage wonder? Do Elli and Barley even pay you to baby-sit their kids for most of the work week, or do they just feel free to take advantage of you?"

"They do pay me—but I don't like to ask for a lot of money from my parishioners," Carter countered. "They have their own financial problems. They give what they can afford. I have a roof over my head and clothes on my back. When you think about it, I'm quite blessed. I feel content."

Claire started to open her mouth again but she restrained herself. She smiled tightly. "I should really stop talking. I can see that I'm feeling more slighted on your behalf than you do for your own. We just made up, and so we should be enjoying ourselves."

"I'm glad you feel that way."

Claire nudged herself a little closer to Carter and gave him a small smile. "I'm glad Popuri and Kai got married today—I had given up hope of having someone to watch the fireworks festival with. If you weren't forced to be on the beach today, I probably would have ended up watching it by myself."

After gathering up his courage, he admitted, "Well… our misunderstanding notwithstanding, I would have been glad to come watch it with you anyway."

She beamed at him. "I was hoping that was the case."

* * *

The next day Claire came to the church so early that Carter answered the door in a bathrobe hastily thrown over his undershirt and boxers. She stood at the door, cheerfully holding a basket that was over-laden with food from her farm.

"Claire," Carter said, feeling embarrassed and a little exasperated. "I thought we were going to drop this subject. Please don't feel that you personally need to support me. I'm not a child. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of—"

"—me!" she said, interrupting him. He looked at her in surprise. "You see, I find that I'm so busy at the farm that I tend to skip breakfast, even though it's the most important meal of the day. However, if I were to have someone that I had a standing appointment to eat breakfast _with…_"

She smiled so roguishly that he couldn't help but chuckle. "…You'd be less likely to skip it," he finished for her. "Alright, you win. I'd be happy to be your breakfast buddy." He opened the door wider to let her past. "I'm quite blessed to have such a caring friend, Claire."

"Well, eating breakfast with an attractive, interesting man isn't quite the sacrifice you're making it out to be," she said, grinning at him, and he couldn't help but smile in pleasure at the compliment. She strode past him into the church. "So where should I set this up?" she asked.

"Um… follow me," said Carter, looking around and then deciding to take her to his small living space in the back. He led her through a door in his side of the confessional chamber, and they ended up in a small, sparsely furnished, but very neat cell. Carter was relieved that Claire didn't notice—or at least didn't comment on—how very small the space was. "It's like a secret—you'd never know this was here!" she said, admiring how neatly hidden the room was from the official part of the church. She went over to the window. "And you got a great view of—wow, the church has a huge backyard!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Carter chuckled. "Yeah, it's my best kept secret. It's nice to have that place to myself."

She smiled. "Hey, I got a great idea—let's eat out there instead! You get dressed, and I'll go out and set it up."

"That does sound great. I'll be out in a few minutes."

She looked his blue bathrobe up and down. "It's nice to see you in a color for a change. You know, you should put on something other than your vestments—it's too hot to wear something that heavy, anyway. Today's gonna be a scorcher."

"I'll see what I can do," he said and she left. Unfortunately, Carter didn't own any other clothes other than his vestments and his pajamas. There was nothing to do but dress as usual, though he decided to leave his thick frockcoat off. Donning his usual black trousers and a black shirt, he left off his priest collar so he could leave the top button open for a small amount of ventilation. He joined Claire outside.

She had brought enough food to feed a pack of hungry wolves. "Wow, this looks great… it's too bad Cliff's not here to share," said Carter, surveying the bounty.

"Not really," Claire said, shortly. When Carter looked at her in surprise, she blushed a little as she said, "It's more fun, just the two of us… don't you think?"

"I suppose," Carter smiled. "Conversation will be much easier, that's for sure."

Looking a bit fallen, Claire scooted a little farther away from Carter and hastily changed the subject.

"Have you ever met Won?" she asked. When Carter shook his head, Claire continued, "He's always selling these really expensive apples that he claims are special, so this morning I decided to buy one." She held it up for Carter to see. "It looks perfectly ordinary to me, but he says it's all in the taste. I've been curious about it for a while, so I figured we could try it out together. At the very least, it's always nice to have an apple off season, don't you think?"

"I agree. So what kind of apple is this?"

"Ah… he called it a AEPFE apple. I forget what that stands for, but it sounded impressive. Here, hand me a knife and I'll cut it up."

Carter rummaged through the basket and did just that. Claire cut two generous slices off the apple. "Cheers!" she said, and they bit into the pieces. After a few seconds of thoughtful chewing, they both started to laugh.

"Ah man… I totally got ripped off. After living in the city, I usually consider myself streetwise, so this is really embarrassing!" she said, shaking her head.

"Well, it's still a delicious apple nonetheless—" Carter began, chuckling to himself, when the call of "Carter! Are you here?" echoed from inside the church. "Ah, excuse me…" he said with a frown, getting up.

"I'll be here," she said, biting into the overpriced apple again. Carter opened the back door to the church and went inside. He smiled in relief when he saw it was only Tim who wanted him. "Good morning, Tim. Can I help you with something?" he greeted the Doctor warmly.

"Hello, Carter. My wife sent me…" The Doctor drifted off, looking Carter up and down in slight perplexity. "You're dressed… rather informally today," Tim said at length, sounding curious. "I don't think I've ever seen you without your coat and collar on the whole time I've known you."

Carter gave a light, self-conscious laugh. "Oh well. It's so hot today, so…"

"Ah. Well, Elli wants that book back she lent you. She and Mary have been arguing over the wording of a quote in it, and it looks like the only way the fight will end is with proof."

"Ah, certainly." Carter had been reading that book to Claire, but their reading sessions had been obviously suspended since summer began. It was rather unfair of him to keep it around so long for no reason. "Let's get it. It's in my room."

As they entered, Carter started running a finger along his bookshelf looking for the book, and the Doctor took up a position looking out the window while he waited. Carter found it and turned around to find that the Doctor was surveying the scene of Claire waiting outside with a strange look on his face. The Doctor then looked back at Carter with a face that plainly said that he didn't quite approve of the situation. Carter looked back at him, slightly confused. Tim was usually very pleased when people donated food to the church.

"You know…" Tim began, but stopped himself. "Never mind. I need to go return this book to Elli. She'll be glad to have this back."

Carter smiled. "I hope it produces a favorable outcome. If not, you can always slip back here and breakfast with Claire and me to avoid the aftermath. There's plenty of food."

"Ah… maybe. I don't think Claire will enjoy the intrusion, however."

"Nonsense! I know she really likes you. I'm sure she'd be glad to have you join us."

The Doctor smiled uncomfortably. "Perhaps you don't know her as well as you think you do. Well… I really need to get back to Elli. I'll see you later." He made a hasty exit, leaving Carter puzzled. Did Tim and Claire have a fight?

He returned to the backyard to find that Claire had finished her apple-half and was smearing jam onto slices of toast. "Hey!" She greeted him. "Who was it—or was it work related?"

"It was just Tim," said Carter, sitting back down across from Claire. He watched her face carefully to see if it betrayed any annoyance with the Doctor, but only a broad smile graced her features.

"Doctor Tim? Aww, I would have liked to have said hi. He's good people." She held up some carefully wrapped chicken eggs. "Anyway, try some of these boiled eggs; I made them in the hot spring."

_Strange, they _weren't_ fighting_. Carter shrugged it off and helped himself to some of the proffered eggs. Right now he'd rather satisfy the demands of his stomach than the demands of his curiosity.

* * *

"Somehow I think you've been looking even better lately," said Claire idly one day in mid winter. To Carter, it seemed like fall had just flew by.

"Well, eating well does put a spring in one's step, I've found," Carter replied, standing at the podium and shuffling his notes. "But the way you feed me I have to be careful not to get fat."

"Eh, I like a man with a little meat on him," she replied, pouring generous helpings of tomato soup out of her thermos into mugs. "That pinched look didn't do anything for you."

"I guess that's why I never got much attention from the girls," he said jokingly, as he accepted a cup from her. She settled into the front row and signaled she was not quite ready for him to begin. Her original one time offer to beta-test his sermon had lately developed into a weekly ritual. Every Saturday afternoon she showed up at the church with sandwiches and soup, and listened to him speak and offered him criticisms.

Today, it was snowing rather hard, so he half expected her not to show up. However, at a quarter past two the door opened and there she was, wrapped up in a thick overcoat and wearing a long homemade rainbow-colored scarf—her second ever knitting project (the first had been a clumsily knit green scarf that she gave him for his birthday, made with the very first ball of yarn she ever spun).

"Is that the reason…?" she said in a musing tone, settling back into the pew. He looked at her strangely but she just smiled and waved her hand dismissively. "Well, Carter, gimme your best shot," she said.

"Actually, I haven't had a lot of time to write this week, so I don't have anything new that's nearly finished enough to use. I was thinking of reusing an old one instead. What do you think?"

"As long as it's not that weird one with the dead mom and the alarm clock, I don't think anyone will mind," Claire said, coming over to the pulpit and looking at Carter's notes. "Which one were you thinking of choosing?"

"I'm not sure. I wanted your opinion." Together they looked through the notes a few minutes until they found one they both thought would be good.

"It's been a while since I read this one. Let me practice it," he said.

"No problem," she replied, sitting back down.

Carter began his sermon. Not thirty seconds in, Claire interrupted abruptly—"So, uh, can priests of your sect marry or what?"

Carter looked up from his notes in shock. "Excuse me?"

"You know… like how Anglican priests can get married. I was wondering if you could, too." She looked as if she knew the answer, but was wondering what he would tell her.

"Um…" Carter wasn't sure what to say. "Why do you ask?"

Her smile softened. "Why do you think?"


	4. Denoting a Foregone Conclusion

Tithing Love

Chapter IV: Denoting a Foregone Conclusion

* * *

At the Clinic, the Doctor flipped through the pages of Carter's chart. "As far as I can see, Carter, you're perfectly healthy. More healthy than I've ever seen you, in fact. Unless you just wanted to show off, I can't figure out why you were so insistent about scheduling an appointment _today,_" the Doctor said, closing his friend's chart and regarding him with curiosity.

"Well…" Carter began uncomfortably, "My good health is part of what I actually wanted to talk about…"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "A 'part' of what you wanted to talk about…?"

"Yes… the larger issue at hand is actually, um," Carter cleared his throat uncomfortably, "_Claire_."

"Ahhh…" said the Doctor understandingly, leaning back against a counter with a slight frown. "Well, I can't say I didn't see this coming. I think it would be good to have Elli here as part of this discussion. Do you mind?"

"No, not at all," said Carter, although he had booked the appointment in the express hope of keeping what he had to say just between himself and the Doctor. Not that he had anything against Nurse Elli, of course, it was just that he wished to involve as few people as possible in what he considered an embarrassing situation. However, as Tim ushered into the room his new bride, a sweet, understanding smile hovering over her lips, Carter had to admit to himself that having a feminine perspective on his problem would hardly be a disadvantage.

"So we're finally talking about Claire, are we?!" Elli said, giving Carter's hand an excited squeeze as she sat down beside Carter on the examination table. "That's fantastic! It drives me nuts to just dance around a topic. Why don't you start from the beginning and tell us everything!"

Carter smiled weakly, unable to equal Elli's enthusiasm. "I'd rather start somewhere closer to the end. Claire just told me in not so many words that she would like me to marry her."

"Ooh!" squealed Elli. "And what did you say?"

"Umm… I excused myself to make a cup of tea and climbed out the back window. And then I came here and asked for an appointment."

The Doctor looked at Carter like he was nuts. "_That's_ why you showed up without a coat in this weather?!"

Elli smacked him. "_That's_ what you're worried about?! What about Claire?! She's still there, waiting!"

The Doctor sighed. "Carter… I wish you had cleared up this with her much earlier. I really like Claire, and I like you as well, but I haven't been very satisfied with the way you've been treating her. I know it was most likely unintentional, but you've been leading her on. You should have nipped this in the bud before her feelings got this strong. It would have been kinder."

Elli looked at Tim, exasperated. "What? Why would he turn her down?! He loves her!"

"Loves her?! He never even wants to talk about her!"

"Oh, men don't understand anything," Elli huffed. "Carter, tell him!"

Carter shifted in his seat. "I do love her…"

"See?! I was right!" said Elli triumphantly to Tim.

"…But I'm not going to marry her."

Elli and Tim looked nonplused. "Well, if he _does_ love her, I'm not happy that I'm right about _that," _Tim said, finally, to Elli.

Elli put her hands on her hips. "So why won't you marry her?"

"A multitude of reasons."

"Let's hear them," she said with the air of an annoyed grade school teacher. Carter felt a sudden wave of sympathy for Stu.

"Ah, first of all, there's the disparity of our ages."

"She's 22 and you're 30. That's only two years greater than Tim and me," Elli said. "It's not a good reason. Next."

"I certainly can't take her to live at the church."

"Live at her place. Commute."

Carter, for the first time since Elli, or even Tim, had known him, looked genuinely annoyed. He was even bordering on downright angry. "Fine, so I'll live at her place. I'll sleep in her house, and eat her food, and spend her money. While I'm at it, I'll even ask her to buy her own blue feather—it's not like in my wildest dreams I could afford it myself, anyway. Don't you see? I won't be able to do a damn thing for her. It'll be just like her parents' marriage, and I'd rather die before _I'm_ the one that's forcing her to relive old patterns and be like them. I want to be _useful_ to her. And I can't be. If I marry her, I'll just be saddling her with deadweight."

Elli looked stunned for a second before crossing her arms and resuming her pouty expression. "She's mentioned her parents to me, and I don't think your relationship will be anything like that. If you don't understand that genuinely loving your wife is the greatest use you can be to her, then I feel sorry for you. And now I agree with Tim—If you were never intending to marry her, you shouldn't have led her on."

Carter pouted himself. "I don't think I led her on. I was very careful never to encourage her. But…"

"But…?"

"Subconsciously, I _wanted_ to encourage her, I suppose," he said glumly. "I really do wish I could marry her."

"Then_ do_ it."

"Elli—"

"_Carter_."

"_Elli_." This time it was the Doctor who chimed in. "You've made your opinion known. It's time for Carter to live his own life and make his own decisions now."

"Fine. But I think you should at least go back to the church and turn Claire down properly, Carter. You owe her that much."

"I agree," said Carter, though he didn't welcome the idea of going back and facing Claire. By now she must know that he left, and was surely in a fury because she found out that he had tricked her—and she was _scary_ when she was mad.

But more than being afraid to deal with her wrath, he was afraid to deal with her sorrow. If he went back there and told her "no," and she started to cry because she was hurt—to cry because _he had hurt her—_well, he didn't think he could live with himself. The whole situation was going to be a mess.

Well, he brought the situation on himself, and it was time to face the music.

Carter walked back to the church and opened the door with trepidation—he had no idea what he would say to Claire. However, he needn't have worried. Though only a half hour had gone by, the church was completely empty—Claire was gone. "It's for the best, I suppose," he said, but only half-heartedly believed it.

* * *

The next day, Claire was noticeably absent from Sunday service. Of course, her absence was probably more conspicuous to Carter, the Doctor, and Elli than it was to the rest of the small congregation, but to those three the fact that her seat was empty was indeed glaringly obvious.

Carter had, of course, barely expected that Claire would show up, but as it drew closer and closer to the beginning of the mass, and there was still no blonde farmer grinning at him from the first row, Carter felt his heart sink into his shoes. It was amazing how the _lack_ of Claire's presence could distract Carter so much. Every few seconds he found himself glancing up at Claire's normal seat as if he expected her to inexplicably appear out of the air. Of course, it would be more logical for her to slip in late from the back of the church, but the only benefit _that_ thought gave him was to make him glance up at the door every few moments rather than at the front pew. Finally yielding to the notion that she would not appear, he started the mass. It began ten minutes late.

As the hour wore on, some other attendees, though not knowing the _reason_ for Claire's disappearance, did noticed her nonattendance nonetheless—May seemed cranky with only her grandfather sitting beside her, and Cliff looked a little lonely without someone his own age around.

Carter stumbled through his sermon, unable to concentrate. Even though it was only logical to turn Claire's offer of marriage down, all he could picture was her disappointed face and, selfishly, the return to the lifetime of loneliness he had laying before him before Claire had stepped into his life.

He glanced up from his notes and noticed that Ellen was quite obviously looking around to Claire's usual seat and nudging Elli to whisper in her ear. _Ugh, now people who don't even usually interact with Claire were noticing that she was absent,_ he winced. This was torture.

After the mass was over, the last subject Carter felt equal to talking about was Claire, but she seemed to be all his parishioners wanted to talk about in her absence. People kept coming up to him and asking what she would be planting come spring, did she get a chance to try out the new recipe she was given, will she be participating in the Spring Horseracing Festival. People found it only natural that Carter would know the answer to everything—which he, of course, did. With a wry grimace, he wondered when exactly it was that he became the one-stop resource of all things Claire.

After the last parishioner's hand was shaken and its owner sent on his way, Carter sat in the front pew with his head in his hands, sighing deeply. This was the point in the day that Claire—almost always with himself in tow—accompanied May and Barley to Sunday brunch at the inn. When Barley slowly ambled over to invite Carter to eat with them by himself, May somewhat grumpily informed her grandpa that she was not in the mood to go out to eat, and then stomped over to the front of the church to await when her Grandfather was ready for the walk home.

Barley sighed and shook his head at May's retreating back before turning to Carter and asking after Claire's health—"It's not like Claire to cancel on May without any notice," Barley explained. Lowering his voice even though there was really no chance of May overhearing them, Barley murmured to Carter, "Johanna cancels unexpectedly on May all the time, and I think the reason that May is so upset is because she's drawing unpleasant associations. If Claire is sick with anything that isn't too contagious, I'd like to walk May over to the farm and let her see that Claire hasn't abandoned her."

Carter flushed uncomfortably. What was he supposed to say? _Oh, by all means, go see her! She's not sick, she's just heartbroken, that's all. And it's all my fault, by the way._ He gathered up a big intake of breath and began, "Actually, ah, to tell you the truth, I'm not quite sure where she is…." When Barley looked at Carter in surprise and puzzlement, Carter hastily lied, "…uh, because I think she might be at the clinic. I don't think it would be wise to bother her."

"Oh! She's _very_ ill then!" Barley exclaimed, sounding concerned. "Did she stay there overnight?"

"I'm actually not that clear on the details of what happened to her last night," Carter said, honestly.

Barley nodded, frowning. "I see…"

Carter walked over with Barley to May and silently let Barley explain to May that Claire was sick. As May still looked a little sullen, Carter knelt down to talk to her. "You know, May, I bet Claire is very unhappy not to see you today. You know what might be good? Since you're not going to brunch, why don't you make Claire a nice 'Get Well' card? You can give it to me when you're done. Claire is too sick for visitors, but priests are allowed visit sick people anytime, you know. I'll make sure she gets it."

May brightened up considerably. "I'll make one with sparkles! Lots of sparkles," she said to her Grandfather. As the pair began to leave, May turned back to Carter and said stoutly, "I'm gonna be a priest when I grow up, too, so I can see Claire no matter what."

Carter waved to them as they left, a fake smile plastered on his face. He didn't think his conduct could get any lower than it was yesterday, but here he was, lying to small children and old men. Just great. Well, at least, he rationalized, Claire must have been amazingly upset if she was neglecting little May, and it was the least he could do to cover for her until she recovered herself. That it also saved him from explaining his own part in the business was merely… an inescapable benefit, right?

It sounded very weak even in his own mind.

* * *

A few hours later, Carter had yet to find an activity that didn't remind him of Claire, and could settle on nothing better than sitting and staring silently at the stained glass windows, mentally kicking himself for foolishly allowing his life to get so intertwined with hers.

Carter had grown up as an orphan in a charitable religious institution, and had never known his parents or any other member of his biological family. However, the priests that ran the orphanage were kind and rather doted on the poor children that fell into their custody, and Carter felt it only natural to follow the career path of the priests who took care of him so well.

After graduation, he had been shifted about to various locations, working under the direction of various pastors, and was happy when, a few years ago, he had gathered enough seniority to be stationed permanently in this nice small town where he could do some good. That it was considered an undesirable location by many of his colleagues didn't phase him. Yes, he would be working alone and would be a bit underpaid, but somehow, on the first preliminary visit he made to this town, he felt in his heart that this was where the Harvest Goddess was calling him to be.

No, he hadn't minded the idea of solitude or a simple lifestyle—he had very little experience with girls, though it certainly wasn't from lack of _interest_, it was from lack of _opportunity_. Growing up in the manner that he did left him with very little disposable income of his own. He never had any parental financial support, and while the church allowed him free room and board, that was about as far as it could manage. Due to this, when he was a teenager it was rather unsurprising that there were very few girls who were stepping in line to date a impoverished orphan who was determined to go into a profession that would make him very little money.

By the time he was in his early twenties, he was resigned to the fact that he would be a lifelong bachelor—he adamantly would not abandon what he looked at as a true vocation for a high paying job. His last romantic relationship, in particular, ended badly because of this, and he felt might as well have tattooed "no, I cannot afford a stay-at-home wife" across his forehead—it would have saved him (and the lady) a great deal of time and trouble.

When they had parted, she had snapped at him that he was an inconsiderate jerk, selfishly monopolizing her attentions while she could have been falling in love with someone who could be a _real_ husband to her. It was like a slap across the face—was that what he had been doing?! Jeopardizing her chances at a loving marriage when he knew he could never offer it to her? He had never thought about it like that before. He had always been quite clear to her about his financial situation, and that he didn't want a serious relationship, but still… had he unintentionally led her on? Had he, in her own words, "tricked her into falling in love with him"?

And had he done the same thing to Claire? His relationship with _her_ started out innocently enough. When he met her she had already "had a boyfriend" so it was the same relationship he had with all his other parishioners. Or so he thought. Rather stupidly, he hadn't even realized that he had developed unsafe feelings for her until he found out that Kai was never in the picture. And after that, he should have taken pains to shy away from her, but he thought, because of her parents, that she'd never want to become a primary bread winner and support a husband. How was he to suspect that she'd ever want a penniless man like him?

And yet she _did_ want him. And he wanted _her_, even though he knew it would never work out.

Funny—he had been trying his hardest _not_ to be in a relationship with Claire, and she ended up being the only woman he ever wanted to marry.

He sighed. Maybe he was being bull-headed. If Claire had no objection to being in a relationship with him, why should he?

Still, it made him uncomfortable. He had long had it hammered into him that he had nothing to offer a wife. He thought of the objections that he raised to Elli…. using _Claire's_ house,_ Claire's _food,_ Claire _buying her _own_ blue feather… it was pathetic. He could contribute nothing. To think that, magically, these things wouldn't bother Claire down the line was ridiculous.

But of course, sparing Claire down the line meant that _he_ would never get to see her again starting now—or at least, if he did see her, he could hardly assume that they would meet as friends. The thought was painful, even frightening. Though it would be an even more ridiculous prospect than the previous one, he wildly began to wonder if maybe he was worrying for nothing: maybe he and Claire could just go on as they always had—after all, she didn't actually ask him to _marry_ her; she had just asked him a simple question. Next time he saw her, he could just come up with some innocuous answer and life could continue as usual… right?

Desperate self delusion was grand, if only you could convince yourself to believe it.

Carter was snapped back to reality by the creak of the church door opening. His attention was immediately riveted to the door, half-hoping, half-fearing that it was Claire come to see him.

It was Elli.

"Hi…" Elli said softly, pulling down the hood of her coat and smiling. "I was sent by my grandmother. It's her birthday, you know, and she wants to see you."

The last thing Carter wanted to do was go out, but it seemed criminal to turn down the request of such a kind old woman, especially on the same day that he had been fibbing to an equally as kind old man. Besides, interacting benevolently with the villagers was a major part of his job, no matter how inconveniently it was timed to his wallowing in self-pity.

He suppressed a groan and tried to put on a smile. "Of course. I'd be happy to see Ellen." Well, perhaps going there wouldn't be that bad. Certainly, it would be a distraction.

They walked in silence over to Ellen's house. Carter despite his best efforts to appear like his usual self, felt too low to make much conversation. Fortunately, Elli didn't seem to require it, humming cheerfully to herself and admiring the picturesque scenery of the snow-capped homes of the neighborhood as they walked.

Once inside Ellen's home, Stu, who had been making do with the Doctor as a playmate, joyfully made to monopolize Carter's attention, but his big sister shooed him away. "You can play with Carter later. He's here to visit with the adults right now." Stu gave Carter a look that plainly said he pitied him for having to talk to the "boring" people in the house, and went back to playing with his monster trucks.

Elli served Carter coffee and cake and bid him to relax. Carter ate with relish. The food alone made the visit over to the house worth it—Claire had indeed spoiled him; he couldn't fast nearly as well as he used to.

He made as little small talk as he felt it polite, and as Tim tended to be naturally taciturn, the two women carried on the bulk of the conversation. Neither one seemed to mind—Elli kept asking for stories of Ellen's past birthdays, especially from when Ellen had been around Elli's age—and Ellen was more than happy to oblige.

"Now, when I was a year younger than you are now, Elli, I received my favorite birthday present of all time."

"Even better than the dinosaur toy I got you last year?" interjected Stu, looking up from his trucks.

"Yes, dear, but not by much," said Ellen, patting Stu soothingly on the head before continuing to Elli, "I had been dating your grandfather for about a year and we were pretty well in love. I had always been very sorry that I hadn't been born on Valentine's Day—just one day off!—and of course you know '13' isn't renowned for the best number in the world. Well that year, your grandfather called at my house just before dawn—you can guess how happy my parents were about _that_—and told me that my birthday present was ready and he just couldn't wait to show me, but that he'd have to take me to where it was.

"My parents grumbled about the earliness of the hour, but I was very curious about what my present might be, so I left with him to go see it, and he led me to the peak of Mother's Hill. Now, it had snowed the day before, and the ground and the trees were blanketed in a layer of snow, which always gives the woods around Mother's Hill a fairyland-like feel, but when we reached the peak, I found that he had ordered dozens and dozens of white roses from a hothouse and decorated the peak with them. The first rays of sunlight were just beginning to hit, and you could hardly tell what was sparkling snow and what was pure white flower. The effect was stunningly ethereal. Just amazing.

"Then your grandfather said to me, he said, 'Ellen, I can't bear to think that you'd go through one more birthday thinking that Valentine's Day is more special than the blessed day of _your_ birth. This is a little present to prove that 13 is your lucky number.' And he got down on one knee and presented me with the most gorgeous blue feather I had ever seen."

"That is _incredibly_ romantic, Grandma!" squealed Elli.

"Well, I thought so, too. And I've always thought that my birthday was a magical day ever since," said Ellen with a satisfied smile.

Mercifully for Carter, the conversation then drifted away from proposals and marriage to other subjects, and at length Ellen said conversationally to Elli, "I think it's time for my presents, don't you?" Elli and the Doctor and Stu presented Ellen with their gifts. Carter felt slightly disappointed that he had nothing to give Ellen, but knew she understood.

Once the presents were unwrapped, Ellen announced, "Now bring me my jewelry box." Carter looked puzzled as Elli brought the jewelry box over to Ellen, who sat it on her lap. Ellen took a small key from around her neck, unlocked the bottom drawer and removed from its crushed velvet interior a very delicate and antique looking blue feather.

Elli sighed. "They certainly don't make them like that anymore. Look at how it shimmers."

Ellen held the feather out to Carter. "I'd like you to have this."

Carter couldn't contain his surprise. "Um, what—?! Why?!"

"Because Elli has been keeping me abreast of the situation—"

"See? Gossiping works," said Elli sotto to her husband.

"—And she's not the only hopeless romantic in the family. My dearest birthday wish is for this feather to make some other young lady as happy as it made me."

Carter felt extremely embarrassed. "Did Elli also keep you abreast of the fact that I'm not planning to get married?" he said in a displeased tone.

"Oh, posh. One look at you today and anyone could tell you'd get married to Claire if you could." Ellen smiled. "I'm happy to provide you with the means."

"Listen, it isn't that simple—"

"Why not?" Ellen asked persistently, echoing his conversation with Elli the day before. And as he had yesterday, Carter was finding it difficult to stay polite under interrogation.

"I'm surprised you ask; I'm sure Elli would have also 'kept you abreast' of my reasons," he replied crossly.

"Well," Ellen said patiently, "I'd like to point out that there's a big difference between working hard at a low-paying but meaningful living, and sitting on your bottom all day while your wife slaves away for you. Moreover, I think it's hypocritical of you to refuse to be financially supported by your wife but at the same time expect your wife to feel comfortable being financially supported by you."

"Yes, but traditionally—"

Ellen laughed lightly. "Does Claire seem traditional to you?"

"No, but most women—"

"But Claire isn't 'most women.' Isn't that rather the point?" Ellen smiled.

Carter couldn't think of what to say to that, and settled on looking (and feeling) tremendously irritated. Tim attempted to throw a rather murderous glance at Elli for bringing his best friend here to be tortured by her grandmother, but Elli pointedly ignored looking in his direction. Instead, Elli said quite seriously to Carter, "Carter, Claire is proud of the work you do. I think it's a big part of what she loves about you."

Carter waved his hand dismissively. "That's very flattering to say, but—"

"It's not flattery, it's the truth," Elli said hotly, annoyed by how casually Carter was taking her words. "And it's true you love her, too; you told me so yourself, so I don't understand why you're being so stubborn about this."

The Doctor cleared his throat and cut into the conversation, speaking for the first time since the argument started. "I know firsthand what it's like to feel 'not good enough' for the woman you love, Elli. I myself was in Carter's shoes not too long ago, though for different reasons. You know this. I would therefore think you'd be a little more understanding towards him."

Elli blushed at the reprimand and became quiet.

Tim addressed Carter. "Although I never felt that prying into your personal life is any of my or my wife's _business,_"—He looked at Elli, who looked away—"the damage has been done, and at this point I feel I would be doing you a disservice not to tell you that I honestly _know_ that you're doing both yourself and Claire more harm than good by allowing that 'not good enough' feeling to rule your actions… having been in your shoes myself."

He looked at Carter sharply. "You say you don't earn enough for Claire… that you have nothing to offer her. And yet through your job, you have earned the affection of your parishioners, which in turn has secured you a blue feather, as legitimately as if you had strolled into a store and bought it with an enormous paycheck."

"_And,_" Elli added, jumping in eagerly,"I think the way that you went about earning this feather would mean more to Claire than if you just bought it. Much more."

Tim raised an eyebrow at his wife's quick recovery but did not comment on it. Instead, he said to Carter, "Do you not agree?"

Actually, Carter did. The way Tim explained things made a good deal of sense. Furthermore, he suddenly realized that Tim had been right on an earlier point dating a couple of months back—Carter hadn't understood Claire as well as he thought he had. He had grossly underestimated both her understanding and her affections.

Saddled with his own baggage, it never occurred to him that Claire could be non-materialistic—that, in being married to him, Claire would find his good works and the spreading of happiness in the world as a more desirable increase of "income" than money. Of course, now it was obvious, and it was one more thing to love about her.

How stupid he had been—he had caused both of them pain—but it was pain that was lessening as he felt an enormous weight of guilt lifted off him. He no longer needed to feel guilty about his feelings for Claire. But still… being perfectly free to marry Claire was too new a concept to comprehend—it was too good to be true.

"But—I couldn't take the feather— It's too precious—" Carter protested.

He was obviously softening, and Ellen pounced. "It's doing nothing but gathering dust in my jewelry box. It's no use to anyone as it is," she said temptingly.

Carter tried again. "But surely in the future Stu will want it to propose to someone himself—"

"I'm never going to propose to nobody!" corrected Stu stubbornly.

Ellen shrugged and gestured at Stu. "You heard him." She looked at Carter earnestly. "He'll probably want to buy his own when he gets old enough anyway. I want _you _to have this. Come now, you're not going to disregard the wishes of an old lady on her birthday are you?"

"Um…" Carter said, his hand closing almost unwillingly around the stem of the feather. He couldn't believe his good luck. It just didn't seem real.

Ellen smiled indulgently. "Tomorrow's Valentine's Day. It will be really romantic to propose to her then."

Carter grinned at her. "Actually… I don't think I can wait that long. As you said, today's a magical day. Please excuse me." Barely taking the time to make his goodbyes, he left.

* * *

Carter jogged all the way to Claire's farm. Once there, wiped the sweat off his forehead and ran a hand through his hair, hoping he looked okay. No chance to check. He uttered a quick prayer to the Harvest Goddess that he looked presentable and knocked on the door, nervous excitement coursing through him.

Immediately from within the house, the sound of Pilot barking began at full volume. _Well, at least I know if she was asleep, she's awake now, _Carter thought, wryly. Pilot whined and scratched against the inside of the door, but there was no other sound. Carter knocked louder and called her name. Still nothing.

After about five minutes, he decided the virtues of peeping into the window outweighed the embarrassment of getting caught in the act—but aside from Pilot trying to burrow his way through the door, the house was empty. He checked both the barns, but they were also devoid of Claire. _Where was she?_

He mentally ran through the list of places he thought that she'd likely be: the church, the clinic, her house… Yodel Farm! She must have gone to see May and apologize for missing brunch. He made his way to Yodel farm, but although Barley and May were both at home, Claire wasn't there and apparently had not been there all day.

After accepting May's "Get Well" card for Claire (which was indeed sparkle-tastic), and disengaging himself from a conversation with Barley as quickly as possible, he decided to check the inn on the off chance that Claire was hanging out with Cliff and Ann. Most likely she was out and about in the woods. The best course of action in that case was setting up camp to wait for Claire in the cold on her front steps.

As soon as he opened the door, Carter saw that Claire was indeed at the inn, but rather than chatting with the occupants, she was sobbing as quietly as she could manage into the town's only phone. Despite her pains to be quiet about it, it took only a second for Carter to realize she was on the phone with Kai, and was crying about him.

He felt a stab of remorse for his actions yesterday like a knife to the heart. She must have been really hurt; he couldn't imagine someone as proud as Claire ever being so willing to be so emotionally vulnerable in a public place if she could help it.

Ann was standing behind the bar and doing her best to man her post without unintentionally overhearing _too _much of Claire's conversation, but it was a losing battle. Uncomfortably, she picked up a glass to clean it and turned her head away from Claire. In doing so, her eyes lit on the front door and spied Carter standing in the doorway.

Carter quickly laid his finger over his lips before Ann could hail him and quietly closed the door to the inn before Claire could notice him. He knew now that it wouldn't do to just rush in there and propose. He had _really_ screwed up. Claire deserved a really big and romantic proposal. It was the least he could do for her.


	5. Baring Souls and More!

_A/N: Snaps to my BFF and fellow fanfic authoress, the Jupiter-born _Calypso Tea_, for coming up with a true Sagittarian proposal (I think it's telling that Carter's birthday is in late fall, because could anyone but a Sagittarius have such a deliciously weird sense of humor? LOL Gosh, I love Carter and his incredibly disturbing sermons). At any rate, as hard as this little Libran works to write other sun signs faithfully, I would never have been able to think up anything this good. Thanks, Calypso! _

_For those who may be curious, in this story Claire is an Aries._

_On to the chapter!_

* * *

Tithing Love

Chapter V: Baring Souls... and More!

* * *

What could be termed the "perfect proposal" varies from person to person.

Carter knew that something resembling Ellen's "perfect proposal" would never impress Claire—while most women would find it terribly romantic, Claire would most likely find it to be overly-sappy and cliché. What would suit Claire, thought Carter, would be something a little more offbeat… something that would catch her off her guard.

The manner in which the marriage proposal to the woman you love should occur is an important decision, and certainly not one to be hurried. However, Carter was still determined to propose to Claire that very day: he didn't want the unhappiness he caused her to last one moment longer than necessary, and, rather selfishly, he just couldn't wait to be by Claire's side again. Fortunately, it didn't take Carter long to decide what Claire's "perfect proposal" should be, and he was doubly lucky that it could take place on very short notice.

Carter knew that Claire habitually didn't visit the hot spring until almost midnight for several reasons. First of all, since Claire was a workaholic, she usually worked on her farm well into the moonlit hours. Second, Claire believed that moon-viewing in a soothingly hot bath was the most pleasant way to relax. Third, visiting the hot spring so late at night meant she invariably got the whole spring to herself—her "private paradise after a hard day's labor," as she once jokingly called it.

Carter smiled. _If "paradise" wasn't the perfect place for the perfect proposal, then_ nothing _was_.

Carter headed to the hot spring, aiming to get there around 11:00pm. The moon was high in the sky, lighting his way as he followed the path through the woods. The sign on the door indicated that the hot spring was yet unoccupied, as he had expected.

He flipped the first sign on the door to "occupied" and the one underneath it to "girls only." He went into the hot spring's anteroom and got changed. He took two towels with him into the spring—one he hung by the door (in case Claire walked in naked—though if she thought someone else was in here, that would certainly be unlikely) and the other he folded up, hid the blue feather in carefully, and placed within easy reach on the ledge.

He got into the spring and relaxed. Nothing was left now but to wait for Claire to show up. Carter looked up, gazing at the moon. In about 15 minutes, he heard someone come in and start moving around in the anteroom. He was familiar enough with Claire's footfall to recognize it immediately, but even if he hadn't, the loud, tired sigh that the changing room occupant gave as she began to mount the steps to reach the door to the hot spring itself could have been no one else's but Claire's.

He was careful to look away from the door, just in case Claire _did_ arrive in a state of undress. "Hey, Ann," he heard Claire call as the door creaked open. "Did your dad make you work late ag—uh, C-Carter?"

He waited a few beats and when he didn't hear her scrambling madly for the towel, he faced the doorway. "Oh hi!" he said cheerfully, turning to look at her. Not only was she wearing a large towel wrapped around her body, but another smaller one around her hair. "You're finally here." He smiled brightly. "And I've got something here for you if you can find it."

"I… ah…" she gaped, totally shocked. She looked as if her brain simply stopped processing information for a few moments. Finally she managed, "What on earth are you doing here! It's supposed to be girls only. I'm naked!"

"You're not naked. You're wearing that big towel. I, on the other hand…" He grinned and started to stand. Claire shrieked and averted her eyes, blocking her vision with one hand—the other hand she kept firmly on her towel.

"…am just wearing swimming trunks," he finished.

After a few moments she peeked out from between her fingers—what he said was true. "What did you think you were going to see?" Carter said in a teasing voice.

For a few moments Claire looked as if she wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or punch him. "You know, sometimes I _really_ hate your sense of humor," she said finally.

"Well, I wanted to shock you into forgetting that you're mad at me. Did it work?"

She looked away from him, not wanting to forgive him. "Of course not," she said huffily. However, Carter knew her well enough to know that as she didn't immediately storm angrily out of the hot spring (which she would surely do if she were truly angry), he definitely had her interest. She was staying because she wanted hear what he had to say, and though it was a small victory, he was heartened by the fact that she didn't _completely_ hate him for yesterday.

He gestured for her to join him in the spring. "Why don't you get in here? You'll catch a cold just standing there."

Still refusing to look at him, she pursed her lips in irritation. "Who says I'm going to stay?"

"Well, you're here for the time being," Carter pointed out mildly, "so you might as well be comfortable."

She about to reply when a thought plainly occurred to her—she finally snapped her gaze over to him, her eyes narrowed and her face stern. "What would you have done if I had _really _shown up naked?" she demanded.

Ah. She hadn't noticed the towel he had set out for her. "I had thought of that," he nodded.

"And?"

"And it was a calculated risk that I was willing to take," he grinned.

She looked stunned for a second before she realized he was trying very hard not to laugh. "You… _You pervert_—!" she said half-annoyed, splashing her way purposefully into the water, holding her towel very securely, and attempting to dunk him.

He dodged her and escaped to safety at the other side of the pool. "Not a pervert," he corrected her, grinning, "I left a towel for you just in case. Look."

She looked and saw it was true. Still, she wasn't giving up her righteous indignation just yet. "That still doesn't absolve you," she said acidly, finally following Carter's advice and submerging herself to her shoulders, towel and all, in the welcomingly hot water—her anger wouldn't keep her warm against the winter air forever.

Carter stayed at the other end of the pool, not wanting to press his luck with her _just_ yet by drawing any closer. "That's a shame, because I came here seeking absolution," he said, careful to keep his tone respectful and non-teasing. It was time to get serious.

"A priest seeking absolution from a parishioner? How unique," she commented dryly, but obviously fighting to keep her curiosity from creeping into her voice.

He chuckled. "Unique, but true. I want us to be friends again."

"Oh." She didn't sound that impressed.

Carter took a deep breath. "Because repairing our friendship is the obvious first step to us becoming something more... intimate."

"Oh…?"_ Now_ the curiosity showed plain. She looked at him with obvious interest.

"Yes, and… ah, this isn't really a conversation I'd like to have while I'm so far away, may I just…?" He indicated that he'd now like to return to her side of the pool.

"Oh! Of course!" Suddenly solicitous, she eagerly waved him back to her side of the spring. Suppressing a smile at her rapid change in attitude, he instead took it as encouragement to sit directly beside her. She made no objection. In fact, he was sure that it was not just his imagination that she was leaning towards him slightly—as if by shortening the distance between them, she could catch his words more quickly. "So you were saying…?" she asked encouragingly.

Carter took a big breath, looked her in the eye, and said, "I ran away from you yesterday. It was cowardly and unforgivable, and yet I ask your forgiveness. Will you grant it?"

She looked both pleased at his apology as well as at being back in control of the situation. "Well, I don't know if I can forgive you so easily," she said archly. "Your reaction to me yesterday_ was_ pretty horrendous."

He leaned over and reverently cupped her cheek. "What about my reaction to you now?" he said quietly.

She looked surprised at the physical contact and blushed. "It's a total 180. It's such a drastic change that I'm not sure if I should take it as a good or bad sign. Frankly, I'm not sure what to make of you."

With a dashing grin, he said impishly, "I'm unpredictable. It's one of my best qualities."

She frowned, not appreciating humor at the moment. She leaned back, away from his caress. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," she said shortly.

He drew his hand back and raised his eyebrows. "What, that I'm unpredictable or that it's a good quality?"

"Both, you idiot. Although you did surprise the hell out of me yesterday when you ran off." She looked at him haughtily, as if daring him to joke his way out of _that_ one.

She needn't have worried; Carter wouldn't dare. His mind suddenly flashed to the memory of Claire sobbing on the phone to Kai, and he felt a wave of guilt wash over him. He was sure his feelings showed plainly on his face, because Claire's expression suddenly softened. However, that did little to make him feel better.

"Well…" he began hesitantly, knowing he owed Claire a full explanation but not knowing exactly the best place to begin, "Well, I already admitted that that was awfully terrible of me. And, yes, I know 'awfully terrible' is a drastic understatement. I had… um, I had felt a little blind-sided by what you had been… implying… by your question… and I kind of just panicked."

She colored, embarrassed and annoyed. "Well, I don't know what you were so surprised about. I had been dropping hints for ages that I liked you."

"Well, I never said that I wasn't dense," he said sheepishly. "I thought that you'd never be interested in me because… well, because…" he outlined some of his reservations about engaging her in a relationship—he was too old, he was too poor, he was deadweight, he was forcing her to risk echoing her parents' marriage.

She listened, patiently quiet until he was finished. "…That's _such_ bull," she proclaimed slowly.

He laughed awkwardly. "Now that I've had time to think it over, I'm not going to disagree with you."

Claire pouted. "You should have talked with me about it sooner."

"Again, I agree, but as I didn't think you were interested, it would have been odd for me to bring up a moot point." He chuckled self-deprecatingly, and added, "I didn't realize that there was even a _chance_ that you might be interested in me until yesterday."

"Really? All this time you had no idea that I liked you?" She looked truly embarrassed. "I really feel stupid." She laughed self-consciously. "You know, I had actually convinced myself that we had been _dating_. I'm such a fool."

He took a deep breath. "Well, we weren't then… but maybe we can now?"

She looked happy but still vaguely suspicious. "You're _seriously_ asking me for a date? This isn't going to turn into the punch line of some _very_ weird joke? Because if it is, you know I'm going to completely kick your—"

He smiled and held a finger up to her lips to shush her. "I'm completely and utterly serious. I'd really like one. I'd like several actually. In fact, I'd like exclusive rights to all the ones you'll ever offer in the foreseeable future. So please don't ruin the moment by telling me how graphically you'll dismember me if things don't work out."

He removed his finger, and she remained silent for a long while. Slowly, she smiled giddily with happiness. At length she said, "Wow. I can't believe we're actually… We're finally… We're really dating!"

Carter smiled. "It would seem so."

She grinned from ear to ear. "Carter, I know that's the way you generally speak, but now's not the time for such a wishy-washy answer. You should tell me, 'Hell, yeah!'"

He laughed. "Well, cursing aside, is stating that 'I am incredibly enthusiastic about the fact that we are, indeed, dating' better?"

"Much, thank you." She smiled with satisfaction.

"Although…" he said with deliberate slowness to capture her attention, "if you're really _that_ enthusiastic about cementing our relationship, I _do_ know a way that we can take our relationship to the next level _right now_."

She looked quite shocked at his forwardness but not completely uninterested. "I… ah… didn't think you were the type that was into sex before marriage," she teased awkwardly.

He gently pulled her close to him. "I'm not," he said seriously, and reached over her shoulder to reach between the folds of the towel he had neatly folded on the ledge.

Claire's eye's widened as Carter held the blue feather up in the moonlight. "That's…"

Carter kissed her.

It was spontaneous and tentative; an impulsive act to make the moment more romantic. However, when Carter pulled back from Claire's lips a few seconds later, it was clear that Claire was still digesting her initial surprise at the feather.

Carter smiled hesitantly, his confidence wavering. Perhaps he had gone too far too soon proposing marriage—should he have just been satisfied that Claire agreed to date him?

Fortunately, a few heartbeats later—which seemed like an eternity to Carter—Claire took the feather from him with one hand and with the other gently but firmly grabbed Carter by the back of the head and pulled him back into a much more demanding kiss.

Carter was quite reluctant when, finally, Claire's mouth finally stopped insistently tasting his and pulled away. For a few moments he was unable to do anything other than breathe heavily and feel an overwhelming sense of loss at the lack of further contact with Claire's lips.

After a moment, he was able to rally his faculties. He smiled lopsidedly. "I guess this means you'll marry me."

She smirked. "Well, truth be told, you haven't actually _asked_ me yet, but it seems silly at this point to make you get down on one knee and drown."

Carter chuckled. "You're very kind."

"Of course—it's one of _my _best qualities, you know. That and, of course, _this_—come're you," she growled possessively before closing her lips over his in a second display of her "other best quality."

Frankly, Carter was ready to rate it as her number one quality, but he was too busy to argue. Now that he had finally admitted that he loved Claire, his feelings burst forth from him like from a broken dam, and his kisses quickly became more passionate. He silently thanked the Harvest Goddess over and over that Claire was not the type to mind that he was getting handsy. If anything, she was encouraging him.

In fact, Carter was very much in danger of considering his vow of "no sex before marriage" more of a loose guideline than anything else when the boisterously loud call of, "Oh good, Claire! Listen, I wanted to tell you that earlier I saw… you… _oh_."

Carter and Claire broke apart and turned as red from embarrassment from getting caught as the towel-clad Ann already was for happening upon them. "I'm… yeah. I… I'm just going," Ann stammered, turning quickly on her heel and walking back into the changing room.

Claire and Carter sat frozen for a few moments.

"Er… lemme go talk to her," Claire said at length. She stood up and splashed her way towards the stairs to the door. She was completely covered, but the wet towel clung to her in all the right places. She called to Carter over her shoulder, "Take a good look, mister, because you're not getting me this naked again until after the wedding."

"Regrettable, but understandable," Carter replied with a grin.

Carter could hear Claire hurry her way down the stairs to the anteroom, and then the mummer of conversation between her and Ann. Suddenly, the clear, excited shriek of "You're engaged!" came from inside the changing room, just as loud as Carter anticipated it would be.

A few minutes later, Claire stuck her head back into the entrance way of the hot spring. Carter could she that she was once again fully dressed. "Ann's gone home," she announced.

"I suppose the whole town will know by tomorrow," said Carter ruefully.

"Nah, Ann may _speak_ loudly, but she can definitely keep a secret," Claire smiled. "Listen, fun as it is to stare at you shirtless, I think it's time that you got out of this hot spring and get dressed. I'll wait for you back at my farm, okay?"

Carter readily agreed. Despite the lateness of the hour, he certainly wasn't ready to call it a night.


	6. A Chapter of Questioning Morality

Tithing Love

Chapter VI – A Chapter of Questioning Morality

* * *

Despite the fact that his proposal of marriage had been accepted not even twenty minutes ago, Carter thought that there was never a more perfect moment than when, after walking from the hot spring for some time alone in the cold, he arrived at Claire's farm to be pulled into the warmth of her house and greeted by an enveloping hug from the woman he loved.

She smiled so sweetly that he thought his heart would melt. "I'm glad you're not disappointed," she murmured as she leaned in for a kiss that she promptly received.

"Why would I possibly be disappointed?" he smiled.

Claire wordlessly swung around to point at Ann, who was sitting at the kitchen table (as the front door of the house opened into that room) with a mug of tea and an open notebook in front of her. Ann took a sip of her tea and waved. "Hi," she grinned.

"Oh! Ann." Startled, Carter self-consciously removed his arms from Claire's person. "Um, hello."

Claire indicated that Carter should take a seat at the table, and busied herself fixing him a cup of tea while explaining, "When I left the hot spring, Ann was waiting outside for me. She graciously volunteered—and by 'graciously volunteered' I mean 'adamantly insisted'—on being our chaperone when she heard that you were coming over."

Carter glanced over at Ann. "You're chaperoning us," he repeated evenly, but with a slightly incredulous smile.

She smirked and rested her chin on her hand. "Just call me Ann: Cold Shower Made Flesh."

Carter appealed to Claire. "Is this really necessary?"

Claire snorted. "That was my initial reaction, too, but she made some good arguments for it."

"Indeed I did!" Ann raised a finger. "First off, you two are incredibly lucky that _I'm_ the one that stumbled on you guys getting hot and heavy in the hot springs. Almost anyone else wouldn't have listened to Claire's explanation, and would have jumped to conclusions and the subsequent rumors spread around town the next day would have ruined both your reputations."

Claire grinned sheepishly as she put a mug of tea down in front of Carter. "And here we were worried that she might simply spoil that we got engaged. She could well have spread the rumors of 'witnessing our athletic and varied sexcapades' around town."

Carter choked on his tea. "_Athletic and varied?_"

"Well, I don't know about you, but _I'm_ in shape."

Ann made a face. "Aaaaand this conversation is officially heading over into a bad place. Moving back on track!" Ann held up a second finger, "Sheer moments after dodging that first bullet, Claire tells me that she invited you over to her house to discuss the wedding plans. You. Alone. After midnight. All you need is for someone at the poultry farm to glance out of their window and see you sneak out of here in the middle of the night, or for Claire to continue being a complete ditz—"

"Hey!"

"—by mentioning it again to someone else tomorrow, and _bam!_—Her reputation is ruined. You may be a priest, Father, but I'm surprised it didn't occur to you how bad it would look if Claire entertained a gentleman caller all by herself after midnight, you know?"

Claire chuckled wryly. "He proposed to me wearing nothing but his swimming trunks and you're surprised?"

"And don't think I fully believed you when you said that he wasn't actually naked."

Carter grinned sheepishly. "Perhaps I _was_ a little indiscreet."

Claire smiled. "Hey, if love doesn't make a person do stupid things, I don't know what does." She stirred her tea thoughtfully. "But all things considered, it's the fact that Carter _is_ a priest that makes it _his _reputation we need to worry about more than my own. So truth be told, it's probably a good thing that Ann's here."

"Indeed. Frankly, you both should be kissing my feet that I'm willing to play wet blanket so late on a worknight," Ann remarked, sipping her tea. "And if you're curious, the third good reason that I'm here is that it's easier to plan a wedding when the co-proprietress of the establishment that you're holding the reception in is present."

"Oh really? I don't remember deciding that…" Claire replied to Ann, teasingly. The two of them began to bicker good-naturedly back and forth, Carter took a moment to glance about him.

The front door of Claire's house opened into the kitchen, which was unsurprising considering that the owner would be expected to track mud and grass in her wake the majority of the time, although the floor was quite clean at the moment. The last time that Carter had been in this room was almost two years ago, when he had invited Claire to the Music Festival for the first time—after that, they had always met at the Church. As her farming had become more profitable, she _had_ mentioned that she was making improvements to the house, but Carter didn't realize how extensively she had taken it. The room was certainly a lot grander than the last time he had graced it; the furniture, cabinets, and appliances were all new, stylish, and high quality, and most impressive of all, the room had been expanded to include its own little fireplace, which was currently lit and crackling merrily.

It was very strange to look about the warm, comfortable room and think that all this luxury would be hereafter, partly his own. Despite the fact that Claire's dog, Pilot, was periodically snuffling his clear disapproval at Carter's presence, Carter felt that he had never been in a place more welcoming. He could definitely get used to this.

"Carter?" Claire waved at him for his attention. "I was just saying to Ann that I think that we should have the wedding as soon as possible."

He smiled. _"That _I can certainly agree to."

"Great!" said Ann, looking at her notes. "So between _very_ basic catering and set-up, and if you _do_ borrow Elli's dress—which shouldn't be a problem; I'm sure she'll be thrilled to lend it—and get Ellen to fit it to you, we can probably get this wedding off the ground in one week."

"Sounds perfect!" Claire said with satisfaction. "What do you think, Carter?"

Carter shook his head. "Ah, no. It'll definitely take a bit longer than that."

Claire looked confused. "Why?"

"Well, who's to marry us?"

"Mayor Thomas, obviously… oh." Comprehension dawned on her face.

Carter nodded. "Yes. I'm afraid a civil ceremony won't do. I'll write to some of my friends in the priesthood and see who's available to come on short notice."

Claire looked absolutely deflated. "That will take a while to arrange, I suppose."

He smiled wryly. "Not _too_ long, but more than seven days, surely."

"I see," Claire said simply, frowning. After a moment, however, she shook it off, ready to be cheerful again. "Well, it's about time you were the center of attention. And if we need to wait, we'll wait. At any rate, I'll be glad to meet your friends."

Carter smiled fondly. "I think you'll like them. Father James especially was an excellent friend of mine. If we can get him to do the ceremony, I'd be very happy—but I'm absolutely sure we'll have a number of volunteers," Carter grinned.

Claire raised an eyebrow and smiled. "What, were you Mr. Popularity back in the seminary?"

"Well, not to brag, but I bet a significant number of out-of-towners will be sitting on the groom's side of the church," Carter replied with a smile.

Ann whistled innocently. "You know, Father, I somehow feel the urge to mention that the beautiful and hospitable _Doug's Inn_ offers unbelievably fabulous group rates."

Carter laughed. "I'll surely recommend Doug's Inn in nothing less than glowing terms to _all_ of them. And of course, Claire has loved ones to invite herself."

Claire visibly brightened at the thought. "Ah yes! Kai and Popuri. Popuri'll be definitely be upset if she can't come, and perhaps I can convince Kai that it wouldn't be _too_ big an affront to his manhood to agree to be my Matron of Honor." She smiled in satisfaction. "See, now I'm a bit glad we're putting the wedding off."

"All right!" cheered Ann. "So at least we have a tentative game plan." She checked her watch. "And Father, you and I really ought to go if we plan on getting any sleep."

Claire grinned. "Who could sleep?"

Ann playfully punched her arm. "Me, that's who. And Father Carter needs to be the gentleman he is and walk me home."

Claire stuck out her tongue at Ann. "You're such a spoilsport."

Ann rocked on her heels and casually stretched her arms over her head. "Well now, I _was_ going to use your bathroom before I left so _somebody_ would have the chance to kiss her fiancé goodbye in private, but if _that's_ your attitude…"

Claire pushed Ann towards the living room. "Oh no no! It's bad to hold it in. First door on the right! Taaaaaake your time." Ann laughed as she disappeared into the other room.

Carter laughed as well. "Subtlety is not your strong point, Claire."

"Says the man who didn't realize that I was in love with him."

Carter shrugged sheepishly. "Well, that's more my fault than yours."

"Hmm, true. At any rate, we're alone now, aren't we?" She smiled, and it was a far different smile than the one she wore when Ann was in the room. "And aren't you going to kiss me goodbye?" she whispered.

Carter did not need to be asked twice.

* * *

The next day, Carter awoke early and with an eagerness that was hardly to be unexpected.

After readying himself for the day, he set straight away to letter-writing. By the time that Claire showed up with her basket of breakfast, he had already completed several.

Upon her arrival, Carter got up and greeted her warmly, but sat back down again directly to continue writing. "I hope you don't mind if we put off breakfast for a bit… well, for a few hours, in fact," he said. "It's just that I want to get all my letters on the 11:30 ferry. Otherwise the stragglers won't reach the post office until tomorrow if they go on the 5:30."

Claire nodded amiably. "Ah, understood." She put the basket down on the floor. "Fortunately, I didn't bring anything that would be ruined by waiting a while." She glanced down at the desk and casually passed her hand over the completed letters; there were already three or four. "How many of these are you planning to write?" she asked.

"About a dozen or so. I'm not sure who can successfully clear their schedule to make the wedding, so I'm covering all my bases by writing everyone I can think of. I'm only expecting five or six of them, at most, to be able to show up." He smiled as he wrote. "Besides which, I know they'll all want to know that I'm getting married directly from myself, and not through second-hand information."

Claire grinned. "Well, it's important news."

He glanced up at her with a fond smile on his face. "Indeed, but I'm sorry that it's going to be quite a while until this I'm finished with this task."

She kissed the top of his head before pulling up a chair next to him. "Believe me, Carter—I of all people understand that it's for a good cause. I can wait."

He tapped the stationary box next to him with his pen. "I do have extra paper if you need to write anything, yourself."

She patted the pocket on the front of her overalls. "Nah, I'm fine—I already wrote my letter last night."

Carter raised his eyebrows but continued to write. "…'Letter?' Just one?"

She looked at him in confusion. "Well, of course. I'm not going to bother writing Kai and Popuri a letter each. It's a waste of postage."

"Well…" Carter began hesitantly, and then put down his pen to look at her. "What about your parents?"

Claire frowned, obviously disliking the topic. "What _about_ my parents?"

"Well, are you going to invite them?"

She shrugged. "Honestly, the thought hadn't even occurred to me."

There was a pause, and when it became clear that Carter was expecting more of a response, she reluctantly continued, "…And now that the thought _has_… thanks for that, by the way… Um, no, I don't think I will."

"Ah." Carter was disappointed, but unsurprised. "But still, you need to write them and tell them you're getting married."

She raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Of course I don't."

Carter was taken aback for a moment by such a flat statement. "But… why wouldn't you?"

She looked at him like the answer should be obvious. "Because mailing them a letter from this post code would defeat the purpose never telling them that I _moved_ here."

Carter frowned. "You never told them that you live here?"

"No, of course not." She looked slightly surprised. "I didn't realize that you didn't know that."

"But…" Carter wasn't quite sure what to say. "…Why wouldn't you tell them?"

"Because, silly, when you're a teenaged runaway, telling your parents where you're going tends to undermine the enterprise. Just a tad."

Carter shook his head. "That was understandable when you first left home, but you certainly were no longer a teenager when you moved _here_—and _now_, more than ever, you're a incredibly successful, self-employed young woman who has made an excellent life for herself. What do you have to fear from contact with your parents nowadays?"

Looking uncomfortable, she placed her thumb to her lips, searching for the right words. "It's not _fear_, exactly, it's more like… it's like… Well… My childhood sucked, right?—But it's over and nothing will change the past. And I really like my life now. So why would I purposely reintroduce known agents of strife into a life that is now going really well? And even if nothing in my current life ends up negatively affected after contacting them—which, I will graciously grant you, is a likely outcome—I still don't see what possible _benefit_ there is to induce me to reach out to them in the first place. They're hateful people."

Carter covered one of her hands with his own. "The benefit will be knowing that you acted like a respectful daughter, knowing that you can rise above other people's selfish behavior and do what's right, and the joy that comes from acting like a good person."

Claire withdrew her hand. "Please, Carter, I'm not going to act respectfully to people who don't deserve my respect." She looked him in the eye. "Whether or not I could be called a 'good' person isn't something for me to decide, but I can tell you with absolute certainly that I can be a _difficult_ person. 'Rising above other people's selfish behavior' isn't really part of my personality, and if you think it is, you have obviously never seen me hold a conversation with Duke, and also should seriously reconsider whether you know me well enough to survive a marriage with me."

Shaking his head, and still speaking very kindly, but also very seriously, Carter replied, "I think I know you pretty well. I know that for all your tough talk about how little you sugar-coat your actions, they're always guided by sound moral principles. And while I agree that contact rightly is and _should_ be extremely limited, to fully cut off your parents for the rest of your life is an action too cruel for you to actually follow through with."

Claire looked immensely irritated. "Well, you know what I know? I know you've never had parents of your own, and that all your advice is based on theory."

Carter drew back, upset. "That was uncalled for, Claire."

Claire flushed. "I didn't mean—! Look, that came out harsher than I intended it to. What I meant was, I think that if you actually had grown up with these people, you'd judge differently. Heck, even if you met these people for a short period, you would judge differently. And I don't want these people to come here and _cause_ you to judge differently." She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "I mean, just _talking_ about them is screwing everything up! Really, nothing good can come of actually _writing_ to them. I wish you'd leave the subject alone."

Carter took her hand again. "I understand where you're coming from. But I'd be a pretty poor priest if I only stuck to situations where everything is sweetness and light. We can drop the subject if you like, but I still would ask that you at least give the matter some thought. No matter what, Claire, family is family, and I think if you examine your feelings, you'll come to the conclusion that a short letter simply _informing_ your parents that you got married is a right action."

Claire didn't withdraw her hand this time, but she looked away and didn't reply.

They sat like that for a minute or so before Claire finally sighed and spoke.

"Listen, you've got a lot of writing to do, so I think—"

Claire was cut off by a knock at the church door and Elli's voice calling a questioning "Hello?"

"Please come in! It's open," Carter called. The church door was pushed open and Elli stepped eagerly inside.

"Ah! It _is_ both of you!" she exclaimed, her smile growing as she clasped her hands. _"So…?"_ she asked, invitingly, biting her lip in anticipation.

Carter looked at Claire, unsure of how to answer Elli while Claire was so irritated at the moment. But Claire was looking questioningly at Elli, unsure of where Elli's question was leading. "'So…' what?" Claire asked, perplexed.

Carter couldn't stop himself from visibly wincing. He had forgotten that Claire didn't know that Elli and her family knew that he was going to propose. Meanwhile, Elli looked mortified. "_Ohhh_," she said, comprehension dawning that _Carter must not have asked Claire yet._

Laughing self-consciously, Elli quickly replied, "Um… nothing, Claire," then looked over at Carter with an awkward _I'm sorry_ expression on her face. "And… I just remembered something I have to go do. Um, bye now." Elli darted back out the door.

"Talk about a lack of subtlety," Carter mutter to himself. Claire finally looked over at Carter. "What the heck was that about?" she asked.

"Um… Well, Elli knew that I was planning to propose to you yesterday," Carter explained.

Claire looked at him wonderingly. "Why on earth would you tell _Elli?_" she asked.

"Well… I got your blue feather from Ellen," Carter explained. "She presented me with it at her birthday party yesterday as a sort of reverse birthday gift. She said… that she could tell that we'd be happy together and were only in want of the means to get started."

"Ah," Claire said, digesting the information. "If that's the case, I really ought to go call on Ellen to thank her. And to wish her a belated birthday."

"Do you want me to go with you? You do realize that they're going to question you closely about the proposal. I know you hate that sort of thing."

Claire smiled weakly. "Ha, you're just worried that I'll give them the uncensored version. No, I'd rather go now. You finish your letters. After more consideration, I'd rather not sit here doing nothing while you write. Make sure you eat when you're done—the way Ellen and Elli talk, I'll probably be there a while."

"I'll join you as soon as I'm finished," promised Carter.

Claire shrugged. "Sure." She sounded a bit preoccupied. Well, Carter reasoned, she had a lot to think about.

He wondered if there was anything further he should say or do before she left, but at the present moment it seemed that a light touch would be best. Carter decided that he himself could do nothing more helpful for Claire than finish his letters, which is what he did.

* * *

Just before 11:00, Carter delivered his completed letters to Zack—who was surprised to see such a sudden outpouring of correspondence from the church, but was too professional to question it—and then was free to seek Claire out again.

As Carter passed the clinic on his way to Ellen's house, Stu, who had been sitting at the waiting room window, rapped loudly on it to get Carter's attention. This was quickly followed by the Doctor opening the clinic door. "You'd better come wait with us," the Doctor called.

Slightly confused, Carter followed the Doctor into the clinic to find that Stu had now settled himself on a chair with an activity book. Stu looked up at Carter with an extremely grumpy expression. "This is all _your_ fault," he proclaimed, sullenly, to Carter.

"Stu has gone through Elli and Ellen planning a wedding before," the Doctor explained. "And, as you see, does not care to do it again."

"They're trying on _dresses_," said Stu, with obvious distaste. "They told us we couldn't stay. Who would want to?"

The Doctor, however, did not seem to feel the "injustice" of the eviction as much as he felt happiness for its cause. One of his rare full smiles graced his face. "I figured that if _we've_ been banished while Claire is fitted to her wedding dress, the ban would likely go double for the groom. Can I get you some coffee?"

"No, thank you. So, how was Claire doing?"

"She seemed fine to me, very cheerful—after all, she just got engaged. I'm glad everything ended well yesterday."

Carter smiled in relief. "Believe me, so am I."

"Well, proposing to her in the moonlight at Goddess Pond was a great idea. Very sentimental—no lady would turn a proposal like that down." The Doctor chuckled. "It's exactly the sort of thing I would have expected to you to come up with."

Carter coughed. "Oh. Well, you know me."

"Undoubtedly—but you did keep me guessing about you and Claire for quite a while," the Doctor allowed. He took a sip of coffee before continuing, "Elli had been unwavering in her opinion that you were in love, though I kept reminding her that while we knew Claire's feelings, we still had no reliable indication of your own."

"Did Claire actually tell you that she was in love with me?" Carter asked, mildly surprised.

"No, but she certainly didn't need to—her feelings were obvious."

Carter shrugged sheepishly and gestured to himself. "Well, not to everyone."

The Doctor shrugged noncommittally. "I won't debate that with you. I will say that, while I do believe you _now_, that wasn't how it had appeared before yesterday. I had been very displeased with you, you know—I always _had_ thought that Claire would have made you an excellent match."

"No, I didn't know—I'm surprised you didn't say anything."

"Are you? I had been watching my wife try to 'say something' to you without any success for quite a while. Moreover, no matter how strongly I believe my own opinion, it's not my place to dictate what you should do with something as personal as your lovelife." Tim paused a moment and then added, "And as hard as it was to watch you and Claire both head towards what promised to be a spectacularly bad falling out, you and Claire are both adults and can handle your own lives. The virtues of a third party's interference—successful or not—are debatable in such sensitive situations as these."

Carter frowned. "As a priest, I can't say I agree with your last statement."

"_As a priest_, you certainly shouldn't—were you and Claire both ill, my third party interference _as a physician_ would be indispensible. From the number of patients I've sent you, you certainly can't doubt my belief in the effectiveness of professional counseling. But in your case, it would hardly have been effective to recommend that you go to see yourself."

Carter laughed slightly. "I suppose you're right. But I hate to think that you distrust your own advice—that you don't feel yourself qualified to give it in anything other than a professional capacity."

"Not at all. Had you called upon me to give you my opinion, I would have voiced it—as I did when you finally came to talk to me. However, _forcing_ a conversation is not something that should be done."

Carter still could not quite agree, but he was familiar with this aspect of Tim's personality. While he always enjoyed a debate with Tim, and the current subject was, _in general,_ an interesting one, Carter felt that continuing to discuss it when it related so close to his own situation was certainly not a good idea. He was grateful, therefore, when Tim smiled and merely continued with, "Well. I _am_ glad it worked out in the end—just because it wasn't my business to interfere, didn't mean that I wasn't interested in the outcome."

Wanting to keep up the lighter tone of the conversation, Carter was about to reply with some easy banter when a sudden knock at the door was followed by an appearance from Doug.

"Doug!" exclaimed the Doctor in surprise. "What can I help you with?"

Doug took a seat near Carter and jovially slapped him on the back. "You? Nothing. I'm here because this is where Elli told me that you and Stu were holed up, and I figured Father Carter would wander in here eventually. And I was right! Congratulations, my boy!"

"Ah, thank you," Carter said graciously, trying not to let the pain from slap show on his face. Doug was stronger than he realized.

"You were visiting Ellen?" the Doctor asked Doug.

"No, I was working, as usual—Elli and Claire had come to the inn to talk to Ann."

"Did they?" asked Carter in surprise, simultaneously as Stu looked up from his activity book and petulantly asked, "Does that mean we can go _home_ now?" However, Stu's question was lost on Doug.

"Certainly!" Doug replied to Carter. "Who else would you talk to if you're planning a wedding! Well, besides the obvious," he said, grinning. "So I wasn't kept in the dark for long."

"Well, of course—" Carter started to explain. "It's just that I thought—"

"—That she wouldn't be announcing it about town without you? She's not. The three of them were going on about dresses—and had to ask me a question—so it couldn't be kept a secret from me long after that." Doug winked. "Don't worry, I won't spoil the happy news for anyone else."

"I see," Carter said, although he really didn't. What on earth could Ann and Doug know about dresses that Elli—and certainly _Ellen_—didn't?

"But by the way, besides my congratulations, there was something that I thought I should mention that should be brought up to you rather than to Claire."

"Oh?"

"Well, you may or may not know that it's customary, for weddings in Mineral Town, to serve a vintage from _Aja Winery_ at the reception."

"I didn't, but it sounds logical," replied Carter.

"Well… this is because normally, Duke presents the couple with a bottle of his best for free. Sort of as a wedding present, but it's also a mark of status for the couple… you know how Duke is. It was a close call for Popuri. The only reason she got some for her wedding is because Duke was such good friends with Rod—he purposely dropped the bottle off with _Lillia_ when Popuri and Kai weren't at home."

"Ah," Carter said, thinking back to the bottle of wine that Kai had been pouring at the wedding.

"Considering how Duke and Claire get along—and that neither of you have connections in town with which he might subtly—well—I'm reasonably sure that he's not going to volunteer it, but if you _don't_ have a bottle of his at your reception, it'll be an incredible slight." Doug shook his head and continued, "As I said, you know how Duke is. He'll never forget it—or let anyone else forget it. I thought I'd give you a heads up."

"Thank you. I'll see what I can do," said Carter, wondering if it would be best if he went to speak with Duke by himself or together with Claire.

"Well, now that I've said everything I've come here to tell you, I need to be heading back to work," Doug said, giving Carter a good-bye slap on the shoulder in the exact same spot as the last one. Carter couldn't repress a small grunt of pain. "Make sure you stop by the inn soon, you hear? Not just about the wedding—don't be a stranger!"

"I'll certainly come as soon as I can."

Doug shook the Doctor's hand. "And that goes double for you—I haven't seen you in ages."

Tim smiled. "Don't complain about being blessed with good health, Doug."

"Bah, I'm not talking about your work! You need to socialize more on your free time. Bring your wife by for dinner sometime!"

Tim looked thoughtful. "You know, that's not a bad idea. How about Wednesday? It will be a nice end to Elli and my day off."

"Great! I'll reserve you my best table."

Tim looked at Carter. "Perhaps Carter and Claire would like to double with us?"

"Ah, maybe… let me check with Claire before I give an answer," Carter replied, trying not to frown. Doug's Inn could get a little pricy around dinnertime. Claire would likely be delighted to pick up the tab for both of them, but he still didn't feel comfortable with the idea of spending Claire's money for her. Furthermore, he wasn't sure exactly when Claire would want to announce their engagement—would Wednesday be too soon?

Still, Doug was satisfied with the answer given. "Very diplomatic—you'll definitely make a good husband. But I'm sure Claire'll say yes—so I'll be expecting to see you both." Doug was very cheerful as he waved goodbye. "On Wednesday, then!"

* * *

After Doug left, and as they now knew that Elli and Claire had gone to the inn, the Doctor decided that he was now safe to honor Stu's wishes of returning home. Stu was almost completely out the door before Tim could even finish voicing the suggestion, and was totally out of sight by the time the Doctor extended an invitation to Carter to join them.

When the Doctor and Carter arrived, Ellen looked extremely pleased to see them both, although she couldn't refrain from teasing, "That's very cheeky of you, coming back without being summoned! You couldn't know for sure that the coast was clear."

"Doug stopped by the clinic and told us the girls were at the inn with Ann," the Doctor explained.

"How fortunate! It was getting a bit dull here all by myself. Come sit down and keep this old lady company. Carter, you _must_ tell me all about yesterday. Claire was very sketchy on the details, but I know _you'll_ tell me everything."

"Um, well…" Carter was saved from a very embarrassing conversation by Elli, Claire, _and_ Ann returning to Ellen's, chattering loudly. Claire was carrying a large box.

"Carter!" said Claire cheerfully, coming over and kissing him on the cheek. "I'm glad you're here."

Carter smiled in relief. "I'm extremely glad to hear it."

"Heh, don't you ever doubt it. Listen, guys, as much as I'd love to stay longer, I need to head back to my farm. Elli, I can leave this package here with you, can't I?"

"Of course!—I'll explain what it is to Grandma after Carter leaves."

Carter raised an eyebrow and was about to ask about it, but Claire cut him off. "Excellent! You can do it now, because I'm sure Carter will walk me home."

Eager to be alone with Claire in any circumstances, but also wanting to talk with her about her morning in private, Carter stood up. "I certainly will. I'm ready whenever you are."

After saying their goodbyes, Carter and Claire were finally alone again. Claire smiled at Carter as they began their walk to her farm. "By the way, I have something for you," she announced, flipping her knapsack within reach and rummaging through it.

"Do you?"

"I do, if I can get this darned compartment unzipped… Ah-ha!" With a flourish, Claire pulled out a bar of chocolate and presented it to Carter with a kiss. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

"Why thank you very much."

"Heh, well, I'm sorry it's not as grand as the present I gave you last year. I _had _been intending to bake you a chocolate cake yesterday, but after…" Claire laughed self-consciously, "you know…"

Carter felt very self-conscious himself. "Ah, no, I understand. It's okay."

It felt like nothing else could be gracefully said after that, so they walked in silence for a few minutes. However, the silence was companionable. Claire slipped her hand into Carter's and gave it an affectionate squeeze. _Well, there's no point in putting it off, _thought Carter, and said, "I see you're in much better spirits than you were when we parted this morning."

"Ha. Well, yes, I'm sorry for getting into such a snit. Actually, I _have_ been considering what you've said, and while I still don't fully agree with you, I respect your opinion. I've thought seriously about it all day, and I've come on a course of action that will be an _equal_ compromise for both of us." She grinned up at him. "Because how can our marriage stand if we can't even _start_ it with amiable compromises, huh?"

Carter laughed himself, encouraged by her good mood. "Amiable and equal, huh? What is this compromise of yours?"

She drew two sheets of writing paper out of her front pocket. One, Carter recognized as her letter to Kai. The other was also in Claire's handwriting, but was far shorter in length.

"I'm planning on enclosing a note to my parents in my letter to Kai and Popuri, with instructions that they put it in the mail it in _their_ city."

This time, Carter squeezed _her_ hand. "I'm thrilled, but the compromise seems to be all on your side."

"Believe me, it's not: _My_ compromise is to send them this letter, and _yours_ is to let me send it exactly as it's written," Claire explained, holding the second letter out to Carter. With a questioning look, he let go of her hand and took it from her. It read:

_Dear Mom and Dad,  
_

_Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I'm marrying a man of the cloth, so your fond wish that I'd "go to hell" will probably not be fulfilled. Bummer.  
_

_Anyway, I may write you again if he knocks me up.  
_

_--Claire_

Carter let out a laugh of disbelief and actually stopped walking. "You're not serious."

Claire, who had outstripped him for a few steps before she realized he stopped, looked back with a slightly faltering smile. "Hey, just be glad I'm not going with my alternate plan of simply writing 'Claire got married' in chalk on a ten-pound rock and sending it C.O.D."

Carter shook his head. "_Claire_…"

She hugged him. "Listen, this is why it's a _compromise_. I'm loathed to contact them _at all_, so this is the absolute best you're getting out of me. Believe me, I'm really extending myself a lot. I wouldn't be willing to write them _at all_ for anyone but you." She chuckled sheepishly. "And honestly, if I wrote them anything that was actually polite, they'd _never_ believe it was really from me."

After debating it unhappily for a few moments, he decided that even a baby step was still a step forward. "This is… suitable, I suppose," he sighed, but added, "But I want to write them something of my own as well."

Claire nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, that sounds reasonable," she agreed. They joined hands again.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes, before Claire spoke up again. "By the way, while I already have you irritated, I might as well tell you that I got you in a little bit of trouble."

"Oh? How?"

"I ran into May and Barley at the inn today—May was trying to place a call to her mother, but she didn't get through." Claire sighed at that thought, but then smiled at Carter mischievously. "Anyway, she ran over to me as soon as she saw me—and I found out, to my great surprise, that I was _terribly sick_ yesterday."

Carter closed his eyes and grimaced. "Oh no—I completely forgot about that."

"Uh-huh. Well, lucky for you, I was able to bluff my way through that—and I suppose I ought to thank you for the excuse, because I had been so wrapped up in myself that I didn't even think of May. However, while you saved my reputation, I was not able to save yours, because I was unable to describe 'what I liked best' about a get-well card that I had never received. I'm afraid May is quite angry at you."

"Don't blame yourself. I should have given you the card this morning when you were at the church. It's still there."

Claire tapped her index finger against her lips in thought. "Well… how's this for a plan? I have work to do around the farm, and I know you hold Confession hours starting at 1:00. Why don't I come to get the card at the church around 5:00? By that time, you'll have finished your note to my parents, and we'd still be able to mail the whole package to Kai on the 5:30 ferry if we hustle. Then we can swing by Yodel Farm to make up with May before we have dinner together. How does that sound?"

Carter smiled. "I think it sounds fantastic."


End file.
